Military Base Imperial
by MrsSpookyLiz
Summary: Mulder investigates 'alien activity' at a Military base In Russia, and soon finds out horribly that he has got a lot more than he bargained for. Scully comes to the rescue. MSR Shipper, and lots of action! COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

_X5_

**Introduction **

It was cold. It was so cold that his hands were aching and that his teeth were chattering, and he couldn't feel his feet. Mulder walked slowly hiding behind as many trees as he could in the dense forest, and dodging any light or space which might let him be seen. The facility must be further on somewhere, it had to be close.

He'd been prepared when he'd been told by the lone gunmen that there was evidence of alien activity in Russia and he knew that he shouldn't have left Washington without giving any notice, but nothing was going to stop him. They had told him that they had been told by an insider that there was a Russian Government facility in South Russia holding evidence of extra-terrestrials and that it was hiding it in a secret location out of the public eye. They had also told him that it was heavily guarded, and had advised him not to go alone, but Mulder had refused. He wondered what Scully was doing and felt a stab of guilt when he realised how confused she was going to be to find him gone. Why hadn't he told her that he was going? Mulder slipped behind a tree and slid down to the ground. He put a hand into his coat and brought out his mobile phone and saw that he had a huge number of missed calls. He kicked himself for being so inconsiderate, but also knew that it was important that she didn't get too involved as it would risk her life, he was risking enough of his already. Mulder turned the phoned off ignoring Scully's calls and put it back into the coat. He should really get rid of it; if he got caught he would be searched. He wondered why he hadn't thrown it in his drawer along with his badge and wallet.

Moving further along into the forest Mulder saw that the trees were clearing and he took a deep breath and looked around him carefully, scanning the trees for any movement. They moved slowly with the wind and Mulder felt a sense of eeriness around him, he noticed that it was starting to get foggy, and the trees looked disfigured. Mulder stared at the trees and they seemed to be coming closer to him, and they started to move together in one movement. Their branches were leering towards him as if in a deep nightmare, and they seemed to almost touch him and they wanted him, they wanted to grab him… Mulder blinked and rubbed his eyes, then opened them again to see that the trees were dormant, and back to normal. He frowned with confusion and brought his hands up to his mouth and blew on them, trying to warm them up. He was so cold now that he couldn't feel his legs, and it was difficult to walk on numb feet. He stumbled forward and made it to the clearing. Suddenly he found himself looking out to a dense space. Mulder sighed and his breath came out in large wafts of moist steam and floated up into the air. The fog was getting heavier and after a few minutes the steam wasn't visible anymore as it merged within it. Mulder scanned the open space and looked down to see the outline of some large buildings. He also saw something moving, like a large truck. He realised that it was a long way down and taking a step back in shock, his eyes adjusted to show him that he was standing on the edge of a cliff with a sharp edge. Mulder looked around him again and saw that he couldn't see more than a few feet behind him. The fog seemed to be getting thicker nearer him than down at the bottom of the cliff. Mulder looked down at the buildings again and squinted as he tried to see anything else, and he saw a large wall surrounding them, it was very large and it must have been about two miles across. Mulder took a deep breath and lowered himself down to the ground and edged over to the ledge. He had found the facility, now all he had to do is get to it.

Mulder put his legs over the edge and reached into his backpack and found the large pair of army binoculars he had packed. He pulled them up to his eyes and squinted in the fog of which its moisture was stinging his eyes. He could see a little more in them, but not a lot, as the fog was starting to get even worse. Mulder looked around himself checking he wasn't being watched for the last time, and then put his binoculars back in his backpack. He reached into his coat as he remembered his phone and took it out. Mulder felt the cold creeping into his bones, and he started to shiver more violently than before. He congratulated himself that at least it wasn't snowing, but he had seen snow on top of the mountains as he had started to walk earlier. He looked up to see the mountains now and saw that he couldn't see them. Mulder stared at his phone for a moment sensing that it was his last chance of rescue if he needed it and contact with the FBI if he got into trouble. But he knew how much he would be hurt if they found out who he was, and he couldn't risk anything. Mulder sighed and shivered as he held the phone in his gloved hand. He switched it on for a moment and stared at the weak signal, as a last beacon on hope. His eyes were tired and they started to water with the cold wind blowing against them. Suddenly the phone started to ring and he jumped at the sound, nearly dropping the phone. Mulder stared at the screen and read 'Scully'. He felt his stomach tie up in knots as he read her name and felt a little warmer by the recognition of her. But he couldn't answer, not now. She had to wait. Mulder fought the urge to pick up the phone and hung the call up, then switched off his phone and threw it out in front of him and watched it disappear into the fog and down to the bottom.

He turned onto his front on the freezing ground and started to back down the cliff, digging his feet into holes where he found them. His fingers were so numb that he nearly lost his grip as he grabbed a large tuft of grass and ground. He clung onto it as hard as he could manage and began to shift himself down the side of the cliff, as carefully as he could.


	2. Chapter 2

**Rescue**

_Washington D.C. A day earlier_

Scully looked up at the poster reading 'I want to Believe' in their office and took a deep sigh. She was so tired that she couldn't keep her eyes open. She'd been up all night trying to get in contact with Mulder, but he hadn't answered and he hadn't been at home. Either that or he hadn't answered the door. Something strange was happening again, she was sure of that. Leaning back in her chair she closed them and felt herself yawn. Her shoulder length red hair fell across her face and she started to doze as she waited for Mulder; though something told her that he wasn't going to show up.

Suddenly the phone rang and she jumped with surprise. Scully sat up and blinked, trying to wake herself up. The ringing rang loudly in her ears and she winced at the vibrations running through her head. Leaning across the desk and cursing as she knocked a pile of paperwork over, Scully grabbed the phone. She pulled it towards her ear and sighed.

'Hello?'

'Agent Scully, can I please see you in my office now.' Skinner's voice boomed. Scully raised her eyebrows; his impatient tone woke her up quite a bit.

'Yes Sir I'll come up.'

'Yes, please do. And bring Mulder with you if he's there. Is he there?'

'No Sir. I…' She started.

'Come up then, as quick as possible.' Skinner snapped. Scully raised her eyebrows in surprise at his blunt interruption and heard Skinner put the phone down. Scully frowned in confusion and ran a hand through her hair. She looked at the phone for a moment then put it back on the holder. She leant over and picked up the paperwork which lay scattered on the floor and placed it back on the desk in an average pile. She yawned as she got up from her seat and picked up her jacket from the back of the chair. She slipped it on over her light blue shirt and put a hand to her cross necklace and frowned in thought. 'Where are you Mulder?' she asked quietly as if he was in the room with her. Making her way to the door and turning to switch off the light, she looked back into the office and to the poster. She read it over and over again, trying to think where Mulder could be and trying to get on his wavelength. With a confused sigh she flipped the switch, and the poster plunged into darkness.

'Sit down Scully.' Skinner said in his deep voice as she entered his office. Scully nodded and sat down opposite him. She looked at his desk and saw that he had been writing on a notepad, the ink was shiny, still wet. Scully looked up at him again and met his gaze. Skinner's eyes looked worried and anxious, though they still held their stern manner, and Scully found this was what always worried her most when he called Mulder and herself up to see him, it was either because they had done something wrong, or that something had happened to either of them, or the X-Files. Whatever it usually was, it was mostly bad news, and you could never tell what Skinner was going to say, because his expression held two possibilities.

'Scully, where's Mulder?' Skinner asked her, looking deep into her eyes. Scully shifted uncomfortably in her seat and took a deep breath.

'Sir, I was going to ask you if you knew where he was. I have no idea.' She said. Skinner raised his head and looked down at Scully for a moment, and it looked as if he was going to shout, but then lowered it again and looked away from her. Scully frowned with confusion.

'I've been looking for him all night, I was phoning him, I went around to his apartment but he wasn't there. And he's not here this morning.' She said with a slight waver to her voice. Skinner didn't show any reaction.

'He hasn't answered your calls?' Skinner asked.

'No Sir.' Scully said looked helpless. She looked at Skinner and frowned in concern, a suddenly pang of fear seemed to stab her in the stomach. His face was turning sour. 'Sir, you're not worried are you?'

'Scully,' He said quickly. 'I am very worried.' Skinner said deeply, and looked into her eyes again. Scully felt her heart pump loudly with fear. She swallowed nervously.

'I didn't know whether to be worried or not because I didn't know if he'd got to you at all, or if he'd seen anybody else.' She said with difficulty. Skinner shook his head.

'I had a phone call from his mother this morning; she can't get through to him either. If he wasn't answering your calls and he isn't in for work this morning, then I think this is strange even for him.' He said with a concerned manner. Scully frowned.

'Mrs Mulder couldn't get through to him either?' She asked, shocked. 'Sir, what could have happened to him?'

'I don't know; I was hoping you were going to tell me.'

'He could have gone to find something. It must be something like that.' Scully said running solutions over in her head.

'What and not told us where he was going?' Skinner snapped in an angry tone. Scully didn't answer. She held her chin in her hand and seemed engrossed in thought. Skinner sighed.

'Well is there any chance that you know where he's gone?'

'I can try and find out.' She said looking across at him.

'Right, keep trying to call him. I'm sure he'll answer you sometime.' Skinner said quickly, and stood up. 'If he's gone without telling us, then he is seriously suspended.'

'Sir!' Scully objected suddenly and stood up. She met his gaze and frowned angrily. 'You don't know that…'

'Scully I can't keep running around after Agents all the time. If he gets caught by some government and gets himself in a mess then I'm not cleaning it up. He can save his own ass.'

'But Sir…'

'He's done it too many times Scully. He knows better than to go off on his own and get his ass kicked.' Skinner said angrily. Scully frowned.

'But what if he hasn't gone off on his own; may be he's in danger. May be he's hurt.'

'There's no sign of a break in at his home, I've got a feeling that this is one of Mulder's clown acts. I'm sure he'll turn up soon, we'll get a video sent in of his arrest for trespassing in restricted areas.'

'Sir please.' Scully said holding her hand up to silence him. 'You know that whatever Mulder's doing is wrong for his job but you also know that he is proving something that the world needs to know and that is hidden from it. Mulder doesn't do these things for nothing, you know that.' She said calmly. Skinner sighed and shifted on his feet awkwardly.

'I can't have my agents getting into trouble like that. Most of all I'm afraid that he's going to go and kill himself.' Skinner said avoiding Scully's glance. His eyes were full of worry and emotion, and Scully felt sadness fill her gut and her eyes glistened with wet tears.

'Sir, Mulder won't get himself killed. Don't think that.' She said, her voice wavering. 'I'll find out where he is. We'll have to keep looking.' She said looking down at the floor for a moment then back up to meet Skinner's gaze. He nodded.

'Get back to me if you find anything.' He said. Scully nodded and went to leave the room. She looked back at him as she reached the door and saw that he was uneasy. He looked around himself defensively, like someone was trying to find something out from him. Skinner sensed Scully looking at him and he looked up to her. She smiled weakly and left the room closing the door firmly behind her. She leant against the door and closed her eyes, letting her worry expose itself fully, and she felt her heart beat heavily against her chest. Tears stung her eyes as she tried to push away the horrific visions that clouded her mind of Mulder in serious danger. Her tiredness and shock clouded her vision as she saw him struggling and fighting, and someone hitting him. He was tired and injured and he called out her name to her in a desperate cry. She managed to change her thoughts to his familiar friendly face looking at her and she felt a small glow of happiness inside her.

'Excuse me, Miss Scully?'

The squeaky voice of the secretary resounded through her ears breaking through her like smashed glass and her thoughts vanished suddenly and dissolved behind her eyes. Scully's eyes shot open and looked ahead to see the blonde lady staring at her. With one eyebrow raised and an unforgiving expression on her face she stared at her like a sad dress she had seen at the mall. 'Can you be moving along now? The director has other people to see apart from you today.' She said. Scully took a deep breath and gathered herself. She brushed down her jacket and moved away from the door.

'Excuse me.' She said breathlessly, and felt annoyance and embarrassment as she made her way quickly into the corridor, feeling the secretary's eyes still burning into her back as she left through the glass door.

Scully walked quickly along the corridor to the office and opened the door briskly and checked before she closed it if anyone was watching her. She pulled her jacket aside and got out her mobile phone. She dialled Mulder's number and waited as the ring resounded through her ears loudly. Scully paced impatiently as she phoned, worry and anger fuelled her thoughts and made her so anxious she felt like she could burst. The phone continued to ring and she stopped pacing and took a deep sigh. She walked over to the desk and tapped her hand on it in nervous agitation.

'Come on, come on…' She repeated over. Scully closed her eyes and squeezed them, as if she had a bad headache. Suddenly the ringing stopped and the voicemail message clicked on. Scully cursed under her breath and hung up the call quickly. She felt as if the whole world was spinning around her but she wasn't connecting to it, she just needed to get through to Mulder.

Suddenly, thinking on her feet she thought of another number to call. Her brow furrowed in concentration she went over to the desk and opened the top drawer to find a torn piece of paper with a number sketched on in pencil. She held it up to the light and punched it into her phone. Scully pressed the call button and waited. Someone picked up.

'What's the password?'

'Excuse me?' She said with surprise. Suddenly the phone clicked off and the dial tone rung through her ear. Scully stared at her phone with anger. She pressed redial and waited again.

'What's the password?'

'Langley? It's Scully; I don't know the damn password.' She said forcefully.

'I'm sorry we… wait, Scully?' Langley said with surprise.

'Yes.'

'Wait, we have to make sure it's you.' He said, Scully protested but his voice was further away now like he was talking across the room. 'Err… guys, this chick says she's Scully, we have to ask her something to find out if it's really her.' He said; his voice muffled and distant.

'I'm Scully for god's sake why don't you believe me!' She said angrily, but they didn't hear her. She could hear them all discussing things in the background. Langley came back to the phone.

'Sorry Scully our caller ID device isn't working at the moment so I'm going to have to ask you some questions…'

'I don't have time for this Langley I need to know where…'

'Which one of us fancies you?' Langley said, ignoring her. Scully stopped suddenly in surprise and felt annoyance fill her insides.

'Frohike.' She said in a low voice. There was a long silence and just when she was about to ask what was happening Frohike spoke.

'Say Scully, I never knew you knew that. How about us getting to know each other a little better…'

'Listen all of you! I need your help! Mulder's missing.' She shouted. There was a silence for a moment.

'Damn, really?' Byers said. Scully sighed.

'Yes, really. I'm really worried, the FBI's mad at him and I need to find him. God knows what he's doing at the moment.' She said desperately. There was another silence.

'We don't know where he is.' Langley said quickly. Scully raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

'Aren't you even worried about where he is?' She asked.

'Sure we are Scully; we don't know where he is though. Do you think he's in trouble?' Frohike said in an apologetic tone. Scully shook her head in dismay.

'I… I hope not. I just… please if you can do anything… I mean…. He's…' She said struggling with her words. Her emotions were taking control of her and she felt a hot tear roll down her face. 'If he doesn't come back in one piece I'll… I'll never live with myself, and if he gets into trouble, Skinner's not willing to help him.' She said sadly. There was a silence on the other line and Scully brushed her tear away, angry with herself that she was getting so worked up.

'Well…' Frohike started awkwardly.

'Oh come on, to hell with it.' Byers interrupted impatiently, and there was a rustle of papers and a sound like someone was moving around down the line. 'Listen Scully, we know where he is.'

'You… what?' Scully cried, her stomach turned over and she opened her eyes wide in surprise.

'No we don't!' Langley said loudly.

'YES we do.' Byers shouted. 'Scully, I'm sorry, Mulder told us not to tell you where he was going.' He said in a sincere tone.

'He… why would he do that?' Scully asked; her heart racing and her brain clouding with confusion.

'He didn't want you coming after him because he doesn't want you to get hurt.' Byers said.

'That's what he said, though we told him not to go on his own.' Langley said slowly, as if he was sorry for what he had done.

'Where is he?' Scully asked.

'We told him about a government facility in Russia, one of our sources told us that they were holding extra terrestrial evidence secret there. He insisted on going and finding out more about it but we told him it was too dangerous…'

'You're telling me that Mulder's gone to look for this evidence in the middle of Russia where it's snowing…' Scully started angrily.

'Actually, the part of Russia where he is going isn't snowing at the moment it's just very cold.' Langley interrupted. Scully felt so angry at his interruption that she couldn't speak. She sighed and tried to calm herself down.

'You should have known better about Mulder, you know that he is desperate to find anything related to aliens, no matter how crazy it is.'

'We told him it was too dangerous and we didn't want him to go, he told us that he wouldn't. We wanted to tell you that he was going so you could stop him but he swore us to secrecy.' Byers said trying to calm Scully down. Scully ran a hand through her hair nervously and closed her eyes in despair.

'So he's gone to a government facility, what kind of facility is this and where is it?' She asked.

There was another silence down the line.

'It's heavily guarded.' Frohike said; his voice full of guilt.

'It's basically a military base.' Langley said in a voice that seemed too calm for the situation. Scully sighed heavily and felt the tears rise up her throat again.

'Military? They'll blow him up the first moment they see him!' She said in dismay. Scully held out her hand and realised that it was shaking. 'Mulder's never been so stupid.' She said breathlessly. 'Where is it?'

'It's South Russia; we'll give you the coordinates. It's more than Mulder had, so you'll be able to…' Byers said trailing off, realising that what he said didn't sound too hopeful, 'err... you'll be able to find it quicker than he did.'

'What did you give Mulder as directions?' She asked exasperated.

'Not a lot, just a name. Scully you have to understand we didn't want him to go.' Byers said apologetically.

'Well you should have known what he would try to do.' She snapped angrily as tear threatened to fall. She grabbed a piece of paper with one hand then held the phone by her shoulder while she picked up a pencil and prepared to write. 'I don't have time for this, give me the coordinates now so I can go and find him.'

'Scully, it's really dangerous.' Byers said with worry.

'I know it is! But I don't care!' She shouted with distress. There was a guilty silence on the other end and Scully sniffed as the tears suffocated her throat. 'Let's just hope that I find him alive. For all we know he might not have even made it to the base.'

Scully made her way into Skinner's office as quickly as she could and didn't wait for the secretary to let her through. Her heart was pumping fast and she just needed this confirmation from Skinner to go and find Mulder. She needed it more than anything else. The world around her was spinning again, and nothing else mattered.

'Agent Scully!' The secretary protested as she stormed through the door. Scully flung the door open as quickly as she could but nearly collided face to face with a tall man, who stared at her with a strange expression. Scully grimaced and blushed with embarrassment.

'I'm sorry Sir I…'

'What is it Agent Scully?' Skinner said angrily. The secretary came in and glared at Scully. Scully felt as if the whole world wasn't spinning, it was watching now.

'She came straight past me Sir, she didn't wait. I'll take her out.' The secretary said moving towards her.

'No,' Scully protested and moved further towards Skinner with a desperate expression. The surprised man looked at her with suspicion. 'I know what's happened Sir. I've found out.' She said trying not to give anything away. She looked at the man out of the corner of her eye and then looked back at Skinner, catching his eye. Skinner's expression changed from anger to a blank expression. Scully looked at him with confusion, her heart thumping strongly.

'Yes, I know Scully.' Skinner said quietly, looking down at the floor. Scully looked at him with confusion.

'You know?' She asked; her head was spinning and she frowned in deep confusion. Skinner nodded.

'Is this Agent Scully?' The strange man said in a thick foreign accent, and he turned to look at Scully. Scully's eye's opened wide in confusion.

'What's going on?' She asked, her voice wavering with emotion. She felt everyone looking at her, and she felt uncomfortable.

'Sit down Scully.' Skinner said, rubbing his head as if he was tired and troubled. Scully looked around at the strange man.

'Who are you?' She asked uncertainly. Skinner got up and walked towards her.

'Sit down Scully.' He said forcefully. Scully frowned.

'I think I'd rather stand.' She said angrily. Skinner stared at her with rage.

'Agent Scully this is Agent Tristan. He's here from Russia but works for the US government. Now would you please sit down?' Skinner said, moving very close to her and staring at her angrily. Scully frowned and looked at the Agent. She sighed uneasily and sat down in the chair nervously.

'Scully, Agent Mulder was found at the Russian Military Base Imperial at approximately 0100 hours this morning. He was found looking around in the very private and restricted areas. What he was looking for we don't know, he won't say. But they found him and they are holding him and he has the right to have some help from America being an American, so they sent Agent Tristan here to come and tell us his situation.' Skinner said angrily. He made every event sound like a complete disappointment and he paced as he spoke, his face red with anger. Agent Tristan looked at Scully with uncertainty. Scully couldn't believe the news; she was devastated, but glad that he was alive. Her eyes filled with relieved tears and she sighed deeply to calm herself and saw that her hand was shaking again.

'Is… is he all right? He's been in the cold for hours. Was he out all night?' She asked, concerned. Skinner looked at her angrily.

'They don't tell us if he is all right, but the Imperial does not care how the prisoner is feeling, no matter how important they are to society. They guard their secrets very carefully; they are not to be known.' Agent Tristan said darkly. Scully looked at him with suspicion as he spoke, and she felt sorrow grow in her gut as she heard what he was saying, as it slowly processed through her troubled mind.

'Well, may be their secrets need to be known. May be what Mulder was trying to find is very important.' Scully snapped at Tristan. He pursed his lips angrily at her comment. 'I'm sure you weren't expecting that comment from me. Mulder and I are partners don't forget.'

'I know you two are partners, but I didn't know you thought so alike. I understand you are a scientist Agent Scully.' Tristan said. Scully nodded. 'So, your views are sceptical, are they not?' He asked, trying to get the better of her. Scully's eyes welled with angry tears and she felt so angry she could explode.

'My views may be sceptical, but it doesn't mean that I don't agree with Mulder.' She said in a low tone, her voice full of hatred. 'What are we supposed to do now Sir?'

'I don't know Scully, there's nothing we can do.' He said, his head hanging low.

'So, what are you here for Tristan, are you here just to tell us the news or are you here to help?'

'I'm here to tell you the news and for you to do anything you can to help Agent Mulder or,' he said moving closer to her and staring into her eyes menacingly, 'he will be killed tomorrow morning.'

'How can you say such a thing about a person you don't even know?' She shouted, full of rage. Scully suddenly felt the realisation dawn over her and she sat back in her seat. The words shot through her like a bullet, like a knife stabs into a person's gut, and it wounded her just the same. She couldn't speak, she stared in shock and disgust at the way Tristan was treating the situation. Scully's tears fell from her eyes suddenly and she turned as pale as a sheet for a moment. She felt as if she was going to be sick, like she was falling into a deep hole and never to return. Her eyes glazed over and the words ran through her mind over and over again. She opened her eyes and took a deep breath, then felt herself choke on a sob. Scully doubled over and held her head in her hands, hiding herself.

'All right, that's all we need from you now Tristan, I'll speak to you later. You may leave me.' Skinner said quickly with an angry tone and forced Tristan from the room. Skinner closed the door behind him, and moved over to Scully.

'Dana, come on.' He said softly. Scully shook her head frantically.

'He's going to die; he's going to die.' She said desperately. Skinner took one of her hands and she flinched and sat up in surprise.

'We'll do everything we can.' Skinner said with concern. Scully shook her head again and stood up quickly. 'Where are you going?'

'I have to do something. I have to go, I have to go and get him!' She said with determination. 'Sir; that was what I was going to ask you, if I can go and find him, and get him out of there.' She said, looking up at Skinner. He glared down at her.

'I can't let you do that.'

'He's going to die! There's nothing else we can do!' She cried. She frowned as anger took her over suddenly. 'If you won't let me go I'll go on my own, like Mulder did. I'll go after him. I don't care what happens. I can't just STAY here!' She shouted. Skinner sighed heavily and took her by the arms.

'Scully, you can't go. It's too dangerous.'

'I thought I'd made it clear that I don't care how dangerous it is.' She said throwing his hands off her arms and moving away from him. 'You can tell Agent Tristan that he doesn't need to do anything except make sure that Mulder doesn't get hurt, he has to be ordered to tell them that they can't hurt him.' She said desperately; then turned towards the door.

'Scully!' Skinner shouted as she reached the door. Scully turned and glared at him.

'What?'

'I'll let you go.' He said quietly, his head hanging low. Scully frowned in confusion.

'But…'

'Just go.' Skinner said deeply. Scully felt happiness run through her, Skinner sighed and she stared at him with disbelief. 'Go!' Skinner shouted forcefully.

'Thank you Sir.' She said, gushing with happiness. Skinner nodded.

'You're going to need a fake passport and a fake name. The Russian government are going to be keeping their eye on you, so you can't let them know you're in the country.'

'I can do that.' Scully said, thinking of the passport the lone gunmen had prepared for her already.

'Just bring him back here.'

'I hope I will.' She said strongly. Skinner gave her a small smile. Scully opened the door but as she exited the room she ran into Tristan again. He glared down at her and she dropped her relieved expression immediately. Skinner came through the door quickly. He saw that Tristan and then glared at Scully. She spun round to see him, his face now full of anger.

'Agent Scully if I hear that you have left your house or are doing anything in the act to save Mulder's life I will be forced to throw you out of the FBI and the country if I have to! I will not have such pathetic behaviour with such a serious matter; this is not the time for sentimental attachment, understand?' He shouted accusingly, pointing at her. Tristan watched with amusement.

'Yes Sir.' She said quietly in a sad voice. Scully nodded and held her head low as she walked away, itching to buy a plane ticket to Russia straight away.


	3. Chapter 3

**Military Base Imperial**

Mulder looked up and saw some sunlight gleaming in through the small window at the side of the small room he was being kept in. His arms and legs were tied to a wooden chair and he sat, tired and hungry with them bent back uncomfortably round the back of the chair and the ropes were so tight that he could hardly feel his fingers anymore.

They had taken his coat, boots and ski trousers which had kept him warm on his arrival. He was left in thin thermals which hardly did the cold justice. Mulder was shaking continually and he felt as if he was fading away, and he felt faint, and passed out many times. His eyes were aching painfully and he had been brutally beaten when he had been found. Mulder sighed and let out a cough as he remembered how he had got captured.

He had made it to the bottom of the cliff, and he had been running across the side of the wall, hiding from snipers at the top on the lookout. The air had been thick with fog and he could hardly see anything, which was an advantage as they couldn't see much either. A few guards had seen him but he had shot them if they came to near or had punched them so that they could not follow him. But word got around, he had been seen, and just as he made it to the main building, he had been captured from behind and knocked unconscious. After that he had woken up and was beaten so badly that he had to tell them where he came from, or they would have killed him, and it would have been with a blunt knife.

Mulder frowned as his head ached with pain and his body begged for food or nourishment, he needed warmth but they wouldn't give him any. They had forced some water down his throat earlier but he had coughed most of it up because of the way they stuffed the bottle down his throat. Mulder closed his eyes and tried to imagine he was somewhere else, he imagined his apartment in Washington and his warm sofa. He nearly cried for it at that point, he could have died for it. At times he just wished they would kill him so that he would not have to live in humiliation in the FBI. Only Scully would have sympathy for him, he was sure to lose his job.

'Hey, Mulder.' A man said from in front of Mulder. He stood in front on him where bars were used as a door and it really made the room look like a cell, though it was not its real intention. Mulder winced and looked up slowly and tried to see the man. 'We've been told that you are to be killed tomorrow. Do you know that?' The Russian guard said gruffly. Mulder felt fear in his stomach. He felt like he was going to faint again. 'We've been told by the FBI to keep you alive and not to hurt you before then.' The man said with a smirk. Mulder looked up in confusion. He had heard the word FBI, and it made his spirits lift. Suddenly he thought of Scully at the FBI, in the office, working without him…

'One of our men was sent to ask them what to do with you, but I don't think they can do anything and they haven't, so I think that you are definitely going to die tomorrow.' The man said. Mulder closed his eyes and tried to breathe steadily.

'They… won't… help me?' Mulder asked painfully. Every word hurt his chest.

'No, they won't. But they want you to be looked after more so we are going to give you a little check up, clear up those wounds you have there.' The man said with a laugh. Mulder felt terror run through his blood.

'I… just want some food… and water. Please, you need to contact… Agent, Agent Scully.' Mulder said between breaths. 'I don't want you helping me, you… you won't look after me.'

'Oh yes Agent Scully, well our man said that he met her. Agent Tristan said she was rude, is that the one you mean Agent Mulder? I don't think she tried to come to an agreement, I think she was just very rude, I don't think she tried to help you.' The man said smiling. Mulder coughed and hung his head in despair. The idea of Scully not caring was the end of the world to him. He realised that there must be a mistake, and that the man didn't know the details, but he couldn't help worrying that Scully didn't get the right message. May be she didn't know that he was going to be killed. May be she thought that he was all right. Mulder felt faint again and closed his eyes. He felt the pain sting in his chest and felt so faint. He wished he could get out of the chair and lie on the floor, so he could stretch his muscles.

'I… I don't believe you… she's coming… to help me.' He rasped; then coughed again.

'Yes, whatever you say Agent Mulder. Anyway we will see you later for your check up yes? Sweet dreams.' The man said, and walked off laughing. Mulder coughed more and more until he felt like he was bringing up his insides. Trying to catch his breath he started to taste something strange in his mouth and realised a moment after that it was blood.

Scully arrived in Russia in the early hours of the morning. She was exhausted, she couldn't sleep. Scully picked up her hand luggage and made her way along the gangway and out into the cold air. Some of the passengers looked at her and smiled politely. She looked out to the airport and saw the lights flashing on the buildings and the light from the building windows. It was all like a blur to her, she was so focused on Mulder that she couldn't think of anything else. Scully looked up to the sky and saw a distant snow flake fall down in front of her. It blew sideways in the wind then flew down onto the steps she stood at the top of. Scully looked up again and saw more of them start to fall, and one fell on her nose. Scully brushed it off and started down the steps. It was so cold, but she had a huge coat on keeping her warm. She didn't look much like an FBI agent at the moment. But of course, that was the idea. Her coat hood was pulled up over her head and she tied her hair back tight to keep her identity from being found out. The fur around her hood caught the snowflakes but they didn't melt it was so cold. She made her way off the steps and followed the passengers into the terminal. Scully looked around for someone to meet her, and to her left she saw a man who looked at her expectantly. Scully put down her large back pack and reached into her coat pocket as the people around her pushed past and walked on busily to baggage reclaim. Scully looked at the photo she pulled out of her pocket and saw that it matched the face of the man. She smiled a little and walked towards him.

'Hello, Miss Knight?' He asked. Scully smiled and nodded.

'Yes, nice to meet you Sir.'

'Call me Alex. My name is much longer and difficult to say in Russian, so you can just call me Alex.' The man said with a smile and Scully laughed. He put his hand out for Scully to shake it. 'I'm here to be your guide to the mountains, is that right?' He asked politely in a Russian accent. Scully nodded while shaking his hand and felt relieved that somebody wasn't trying to catch her out for a change.

'I'm very excited about it, I've never been to see them before and it's actually my first time in Russia.' Scully said with a smile which looked innocent. The man let out a small laugh.

'It's cold isn't it, come on I'll take you to baggage reclaim.'

'That's all right I don't have any. I just need to go through passport checks.' She said politely. It was strange being treated like a normal citizen again. Scully smiled and followed Alex to the passport control desks. She walked up to the man and held her head low, taking out her passport with the name Jamie Knight on it. Scully looked at it one last time and put it through the hole. The man took it and looked at her with a serious expression. Scully's heart pumped loudly in her chest in suspense as she waited for him to stamp it. Alex came up behind her.

'That's a good picture for a passport.' He said with a laugh. Scully smiled and looked back at the man. He stared at her then sighed, Scully frowned with confusion as she couldn't read what he was thinking; she just hoped that he would let her through. To her relief he took the stamp and pushed it down on the passport.

'Welcome to Russia.' The man said with a miserable, bored tone. Scully took it back quickly and breathed a sigh of relief. Alex walked with her from desk then they made their way out of the airport into the cold air again where cars speeded past on the road in front of them.

'Is it always this cold?' Scully asked, shivering.

'Always!' He said with a smile. 'We'll go and find a bed for the night then we'll start preparing to go in the morning.' He said holding out his hand for a taxi. Scully frowned.

'Preparing? I thought we were going tomorrow?' She said. Alex turned to her.

'We need to prepare for it first, we need supplies.'

'I need to go tomorrow morning.' Scully said suddenly, her voice getting harsher. Alex frowned in confusion at her remark. She sighed and forced a smile. 'I'm sorry I just really want to see the mountains. I'd like to go tomorrow morning, please.' She said quickly; her innocent expression back on her face. Alex shrugged.

'We'll just have to wake up early then, we've only got a few hours sleep left.' He said awkwardly. 'It's one o'clock already.'

'We leave when the sun comes up.' Scully said forcefully. Alex sighed and frowned with confusion.

'You must really love the mountains.' He said. A taxi pulled up in front of them and they made their way to the passenger doors. Scully nodded and felt her heart pound loudly again with suspense.

'There's something up them that I really need to see.' She said looking out across the road and into the night as with wind blew a strand of hair from her ponytail and froze the tip of her nose.

The next morning at dawn, Scully jumped out of her bed as quickly as she could. They'd both had about four hours sleep. Alex was already up and packing his bag. Scully pulled her coat on over her winter clothes which she had slept in and pulled on her walking boots. She opened the door of the little motel and stepped out into the freezing morning air. The wooden flooring outside her door had frozen and she lost her footing in surprise and slipped a little.

'Careful there, you'll have an accident before we go.' Alex said with a smile, walking towards her. Scully blushed with embarrassment and took hold of his arm as he helped her off the flooring and onto the ground.

'Thanks.' She said.

'So, what is your first name?' He asked in a friendly manner.

'Err, Dan… Jamie.' She said, nearly tripping up on the word Dana and forgetting her false identity. Alex smiled and laughed at her.

'It's early, we've hardly had any sleep are you sure you still want to go? I have finished the preparing.' He said. Scully smiled and nodded, happy that he had been so courteous. He could have easily refused.

'Thank you very much, I'm sorry to be so keen.' She said, feeling guilty. Alex smiled and shrugged.

'I know how beautiful the mountains are, so I can understand your need to go and see them.' He said. Scully looked at him for a moment and felt emotion run through her. She suddenly felt so guilty that she nearly cried. She knew what she had to do when she got near the military base, and suddenly, even though she was so determined to find Mulder, she didn't want to do it. She was going to have to hurt him, knock him down to get him out of the way, or ditch him. Scully felt tears well in her eyes and looked down quickly to hide them.

'I won't be needing your guidance from the top of the north cliff face. I can go on from there on my own.' She said slowly with difficulty. She couldn't look up at him, she knew that he was looking at her with confusion and it would make her feel awful.

'What do you mean? That is one of the most dangerous points, that it where the atmosphere changes. You will need me if anything happens to you, the air will change and you will find it harder to breathe when you are that high Jamie…'

'I'm sorry, I can't agree with you. You can't make me come back with you.' She said quietly. Alex moved towards her.

'What do you really want to go up there? I am starting to get suspicious of you. What do you want to do? Kill yourself?' He asked, panic ringing in his voice. Scully looked up at him and met his gaze.

'No. I want to find someone that I am looking for. I have to help him, and it's very important. I just need your help to get me to the cliff face.' She said, tears catching in her throat.

'I have heard many stories of people throwing themselves off that cliff…'

'I'm not one of those people.' Scully said quickly, her voice getting higher with emotion. There was a silence between them and the cold wind rustled the trees. Alex turned round and looked up the hill. 'I'll still pay you for the whole journey…'

'I'm not bothered about the paying, I worry about you. Have you ever been up any mountains? Put yourself in dangerous situations?' He asked in an angry tone.

'Yes, I know a lot about how to survive in difficult conditions.' She said. Alex looked at her with confusion.

'But you told me that you were inexperienced…'

'Please, just take me up the mountain?' She said slowly, realisation growing in her gut. She was going to have to get rid of him herself, he wasn't going to let her go on her own.

'Let's go.' He said angrily. Scully sighed and felt hot tears sting her eyes. Alex started to make his way up the hill and she followed behind, desperately thinking of a way to get rid of him that wasn't too harmful.

Scully looked to her left and right and saw the trees swaying in the breeze. There were large and had dark leaves, and they seemed to bend towards her. Scully frowned with confusion and looked at them for longer, and she felt as if they were coming down to touch her. She felt the hazy air fill with moisture of the morning dew and felt her nose start to get colder.

'Alex? How cold does it get up here?'

'It's going to feel like you can't feel your feet, so you have to be careful. You would be crazy to go alone.' He said, turning to look at her. Scully swallowed nervously as he glared at her accusingly.

'I'm sorry Alex, I won't. It was a crazy idea.' She lied innocently. Alex nodded and turned back to look ahead of him, continuing up the hill.

'That's more like it, come on, we have a long way to go until we reach the mountain. Over this hill you will catch the first glimpses of it; I hope you have brought your camera with you.' He said in a tourist guide tone of voice. Scully let a small laugh out as she tried to imagine the situation like a holiday, but it was too ridiculous to even think about. She felt fear and suspense grow in her chest as her thoughts went to Mulder, cold and alone at the base, waiting to be killed. Scully closed her eyes as the tears threatened to fall again as she feared the worse, that he had been killed already.

'Please God no.' She pleaded silently under her breath as she made her way over some rocks. She looked around at the trees again and saw them swaying in the wind, some of their leaves fell down to the ground. Scully sniffed and tried to sense her nose, but she couldn't feel it.

They reached the top of the hill and Alex took a deep breath and marvelled in the view. Scully looked out and saw how magnificent it was. She sighed and nodded.

'It really is marvellous.' She said softly. Alex nodded.

'We have a two more hills to climb until we get to the north cliff face, there you will see an unimaginable view, however we are not allowed to go on the left side.' He said looking across as her. Scully frowned in suspicion.

'What's on the left side?'

'A secret place, we do not know. We are just not allowed to go there, that is all.' He said in a low voice; then turned to carry on. Scully felt a glow inside, that must be it, she thought.

Scully looked to see Alex making his way over the last hill. She put a coat and felt around for her torch. She followed him over the hill and saw him walk forwards to the cliff face. She looked and saw the mountains to the right, they were towering and looked fierce and angry and seemed to frown at her. Scully took the torch out of her coat slowly. Looking ahead of her she saw Alex standing alone and looking out to the surroundings. He was lost in the moment, and Scully saw this as an opportunity. She had to do something, quickly and efficiently. She felt guilt in her stomach again, and moving slowly towards him she clutched onto the heavy torch with all her strength. Scully crept up behind him until she was close enough then took a deep, determined breath. She frowned in concentration and with one large flowing motion she brought the torch up and over her head then with a cry she thrashed it across his head.

Alex cried out and fell forward onto his knees, then down onto his side unconscious. Scully looked down at him and stared at his resting body. She bent down and looked at his head, checking that it wasn't badly hurt. She felt guilt run through her blood and her heart was pumping with fear and anxiety. She looked down at him and felt tears cloud her vision.

'I'm sorry.' She said softly, and got out a scarf from her bag. She put it wrapped it up like a pillow and put it under his head. He would wake up in about an hour, and he would be fine.

Scully stood up and looked around her. She took her binoculars out of her bag and ran to the left side of the cliff face. She pulled them up to her eyes and looked down, and through the morning mist she made out the big tall grey buildings of the base. She looked around her as she heard the trees rustle, but no one was there. Her heart pumping with fear she turned back to the cliff face and took her gun out of her bag. She put it into her belt and slipped the safety on. Taking one last look around her she bent down and sat on the cold ground. Her feet were starting to lose their feeling, and her hands were turning numb. She shivered violently and blew on her hands. Her breath was coming out in large clouds of wet steam. Scully blinked as she tried to get the cold mist out of her eyes. She turned onto her front and edged her way down the cliff face. Her breathing was starting to get heavier and she found it hard to catch it. Scully tried to calm herself for a moment, and closed her eyes trying to get back to focus. She found foot holes and started to make her way down slowly, holding onto anything she could.

She was about half way down when she heard the shouting. Scully felt panic in her blood and she turned to look down to the base. She couldn't see anything and her eyes opened wide in fear as she tried to make out anything through the mist. She started to shake, but didn't let it mess her up. Scully pushed frightened tears away from her eyes and found her footing again. She couldn't quite feel her fingers, so it was hard to know where they were going, but she used her eyes to see what she was holding onto. She edged her way down again, trying to be quicker this time, but suddenly she lost her footing and with a cry she fell.

Scully felt her body fall and in a panic she tried desperately to catch something. After a few seconds she caught hold of a root of a tree and she stopped falling suddenly. Scully took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. She heard more shouting from below and turned to look down. She could see the ground now it was about six foot from her. She let herself go from the cliff and landed carefully at the bottom.

Looking around her she carefully moved forward. The mist was clearer down here and she jumped as she saw a soldier move across along the side of one building just left of her. Scully's skipped a beat and she felt fear rise in her throat from being caught. Thinking back to all her FBI training she got her brain in gear and ran across silently to the building and backed herself up against it, checking around her carefully. Ducking lower she made her way along the building and took a look round the side. She saw another building just to the right. Scully took a deep breath and waited until the soldiers were out of her way. She saw they held large guns, and fear rose in her chest as she realised how important it was to get across. She waited for the right moment then ran as fast and as silently as she could across the open space and to the other building.

Her heart was pumping so fast she felt the blood rush to her head. Scully looked around her frantically to check that she hadn't been seen. She moved further along the building keeping herself out of sight, then turned round the corner and caught a glimpse of another soldier right next to her round the other side. Scully had to stop herself from crying out in fright, and she put a hand to her mouth and took a deep breath. She slowly lowered her hand and gathered herself. Taking her gun out of her belt she held it up to her side. She carefully went round the side of the building and took another nervous breath. She waited for the right moment; then looked round the corner to see the soldier was walking away from her. Feeling confident, she moved out behind him then raised her gun and hit it over his head hard.

The soldier cried out and held his head in pain. Scully grabbed his coat and pulled him back behind the building violently. She threw him to the ground and kicked him hard then forced her foot down on him. His eyes looked up at her angrily, and she stared with mad, determined eyes. He opened his mouth to speak and she pointed the gun to his head.

'Don't speak a word.' She whispered dangerously. The solider frowned at her angrily; then said something in Russian. 'Shut up!' She said louder. The man sighed then grimaced in pain as he moved his head. 'Do you speak English?' She asked him angrily. The soldier didn't answer. 'Hey!' She cried angrily and then shot the ground next to him. Scully watched the dust move up from the ground as the bullet hit it, but only a small noise escaped. She was glad that she had decided to use a silencer.

The soldier jumped and stared up at her with a scared expression. 'You think I won't kill you? Now tell me, where's Fox Mulder?'

'Who are you talking about?' The solider said, his voice wavering. Scully pushed on is chest harder with her boot so he couldn't breathe.

'The FBI man, Agent Mulder.' She said through gritted teeth, keeping her gun steady. She quickly looked around her to see if anyone was watching.

'He… he's going to be killed today…' The man rasped. Scully pushed harder on her foot, hot tears stinging her eyes.

'I know that, tell me where he is.'

'In that building, over there.' The man rasped, pointing over to a small run down building. Scully looked, frowning then looked back down at him. 'Please… don't…' he coughed. She realised that he was turning blue. Scully pushed harder on his chest and felt all her anger seep out of her mind and into her body. She held onto her gun so tight that she could have crushed it. The man stared up at her, pleading with his eyes for her to stop. He started to struggle, but she kept her foot where it was, her eyes wide with madness. Scully waited until he fell limp and unconscious. She lifted her foot off and moved backwards up against the building.

She felt her heart pound against her ribcage and she closed her eyes for a second to calm herself down, she needed to think logically now. Scully clicked her gun into place again and moved out from behind the building to where the soldier had been. She moved slowly and looked around for any movement. She moved across to another building to her right quickly, and heard voices through the wall. Scully moved forward and saw that it was all clear. She heard the voices in the building and looked back at the door across from her to the warehouse. Her heart called out to Mulder, she could almost sense him there. Scully took one last look around and when she felt ready; she pelted across the open space and to the door, and flung it open.

Suddenly she was plunged into darkness.

Something smelt awful. Scully coughed and put a hand to her mouth to stop herself from being sick. She tried to get her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Looking to her left she saw a small beam of light coming through a window. It was dusty and dirty everywhere. The light showed up the hundreds of molecules of dust floating in the air. She moved along slowly towards it and tried to be as quiet as possible, keeping her gun ahead of her. Suddenly a door crashed open and there was a voice of a Russian man. Someone came crashing towards her out of the darkness. Scully cried out and reacted in fright firing her gun twice to where the sound came from.

He fell to the ground. There was more silence. Scully held her gun ahead of her, her eyes wide open with surprise. She moved forward a little further and stepped over the body which lay at her feet. She moved slowly, preparing for someone else to come out of the darkness and grab her. Scully's eyes squinted in the light that emerged from the room the man came from. She slowly made her way to the door and edged her way through, keeping her gun steady. Scully turned and as she looked into the room she couldn't believe her eyes.

The room was full of huge electronic devices which stretched to the ceiling. Scully felt her heart beat loudly and she let out a gasp of disbelief. Scully blinked as lights switched on all around her and the room was full of white light, as if it was a science laboratory. Scully opened her mouth in shock and she moved further into the room, keeping her gun steady. Suddenly she heard something behind her in shock she swung round getting ready to shoot and there was a huge flash as if something had taken a photograph of the whole room. Scully let out a small cry at the huge flash as it hurt her eyes and she cowered as she blinked heavily, trying to get her vision back. She managed to regain it, but a large white dot lingered in her vision. She slowly made her way further into the room and turned to see a large glass container which reached all the way to the ceiling. Scully opened her eyes wide in amazement as she saw a green substance bubbling inside it. She moved closer towards it and reached her hand out to touch the glass, but suddenly there was a crash from the corridor and she turned in fright. Scully quickly dug into her bag and brought out a camera she had packed. She switched it on and took another look towards the doorway to check if no one was there, then took two pictures of the room and the large glass container. Scully heard another crash and put the camera away quickly then ran to the doorway.

When she left the room she slowly entered the corridor again, but couldn't see anyone. She saw the window with a long ray of light spilling out of it and looked around.

In the corner of her left eye, she saw something which looked like a black mass. Scully frowned and stared at it more closely. She reached into her pocket and took out her torch. Taking a deep breath she switched it on. The smell was awful and suddenly Scully saw what it was. A dead human body lay to the left of the doorway. Scully put a hand to her mouth to stop herself being sick. Insects crawled all over it and flies were attracted to it. Scully turned and pointed her torch to the left corner. Her eyes saw what looked like a man sitting on a chair. Scully squinted and felt her heart pound louder. She frowned in concentration then suddenly, she realised.

Her eyes opened wide with shock and a tear ran down her cheek as Mulder moved his head over to the light and blinking, looked across at her.

'Mulder!' She cried out. Mulder tried to back away from the light weakly and he closed his eyes. Scully's heart ached with sorrow to see him like that. She scanned the area for a way in, but there were only bars. Scully grabbed onto them, they were cold to touch. She pulled on them with all her might, but nothing happened. Crying out she tried to move them. Scully gave up, exhausted, and turned her head to the right. Suddenly she saw a padlock. Scully went up to it, her heart near her throat with panic, and tugged on it trying to break it. She took a step back, brought up her gun and shot at it.

The lock broke in two and fell from the bar. Scully tugged on the bars and they creaked open. They were so heavy that she felt her body try and give up on her, but she was determined to get in, she had to.

Scully entered the room and ran across to Mulder, through the shadows. She shone her torch onto him and nearly fell to her knees with shock at the state of him. He sat, tired and beaten, with his legs tied unnaturally back to the chair and his arms tightly wrapped behind it. Scully felt the tears start to fall and she started to shake with shock. Frowning with concern she knelt down next to him and touched his face, pulling it over to look at her.

'Mulder?' She said loudly in a panic. Mulder didn't respond. She brushed away her tears angrily. 'Mulder can you hear me? It's me!' She said desperately. Mulder opened his eyes slowly and blinked at her. He tried to pull himself away from her and Scully sensed that he was scared of her.

'Leave me alone, go away.' He said weakly.

'Mulder, it's all right it's me.' She said softly, and stroked his cheek. Mulder turned back to her slowly and stared into her eyes, blinking fast. Scully reached round the back of the chair and started to undo his hands.

'Mulder these are so tight, I can't believe they did this to you.' She said, tears rolling down her cheek. Scully sniffed and tried to put on a confident face. 'Come on…' She said angrily, trying to undo the ropes, but they wouldn't undo. Scully took off her back pack and reached into her bag to take out a knife. She brought it out and held it up to the light from the window. It shone as she turned it, checking it was sharp enough. Scully went back to the rope and started to slice it through.

'Scully? Scully is it… is it you?' Mulder mumbled.

'Mulder… Mulder it's all right, I'm going to get you out of here.' She said. Mulder frowned with confusion and coughed.

'Scully… oh god I feel like I'm going to die… Please help me…' He said weakly. Scully let the rope fall and she took it off his hands carefully. She felt his hands, they were freezing. Scully took off her own gloves and slipped them on his hands.

'How long have you been like this?' She asked softly with concern.

'About two… two days.' He said weakly. Scully took hold of his hands and slowly pulled them round in front of him to the natural position. Mulder grimaced in pain and Scully nearly cried for him.

'I'm sorry Mulder.' She said softly, and placed his arms down on his knees.

'Scully… I… I'm so hungry.' He said weakly. 'I can't feel my legs.'

'I know, it'll be all right. We're going to get out of here.' She said, reassuring herself as well as him. Scully had to move quickly, she was sure they were going to find her soon. She went to the ropes at his feet and started to slice through them. When she was on the final strand she pulled it up quickly and through the rope. The knife came dangerously near her face, Scully pulled back in shock. Mulder's legs fell down immediately and he groaned in pain.

'I know this is going to really hurt, but I have to get your legs back round.' She said softly. Mulder nodded in exhaustion and closed his eyes, preparing himself. Scully took hold of his feet and brought them back round to the front slowly. Mulder cried out in agony. As she put them back on the floor in front of him naturally she took hold on his hand.

'Mulder, you're freezing.' She said sadly. He nodded and grimaced. 'I think you may have torn some muscles in your legs; that is so wrong for them to force them back like that.' She said softly. Mulder took a deep breath then started to cough violently. Scully frowned with concern and put an arm around his shoulders and held him near. Suddenly she caught sight of some blood on his front. She frowned with concern and felt fear hit her quickly.

'Mulder, have you been coughing up blood?' She asked, frightened tears stinging her eyes. She looked at his face with concern. He was coughing violently and his eyes were tightly closed. Scully stroked his face softly. Mulder stopped for a minute and nodded weakly.

'It…it started last night.' He said rasping and trying to catch his breath. Scully felt a wave of despair flow over her and noticed he was wheezing heavily. Suddenly she remembered what she had packed.

'I've got some medicine with me, I thought you might need it. We're on the run here Mulder, we can't get to any hospitals.' She said with a small nervous laugh. Mulder looked at her with sad eyes and she met his gaze for a minute. Mulder swallowed heavily and closed his eyes weakly.

'Thank you Scully.' He managed to say weakly. Scully nodded and fought back tears. Her heart ached so desperately she wished she could break down and cry with him, but she had to stay strong. She moved close to him and kissed his forehead softly. Pulling away from him she reached into her bag and brought out a first aid kit. She opened it and brought out a syringe and a bottle of medicine. She put the needle in the bottle and filled it up.

'This is for your chest… it'll make you feel a lot stronger for a while.' She said softly and turned his arm over. His chest rose high slowly as he tried to catch the air. Scully gave the injection to him and he flinched for a second. Pulling it out she rubbed his arm affectionately.

'Here, have some of my water.' She said softly. Mulder coughed again.

'I…I don't know if I can.' He said so quietly she could hardly hear. Scully brought out her bottle and held it to his lips carefully. She put her arm around him again and held him close.

'Yes you can, open your mouth and swallow it Mulder, come on.' She said forcefully. Mulder coughed and then open his mouth weakly. Scully tipped the bottle and it fell gently into his mouth. Mulder took huge gulps. Scully felt him swallow the water quickly and realised how thirsty he really was. She kept it for as long as he wanted then he started to cough again and she took it out. 'Careful Mulder.' She said softly and she made him lean over a little as he coughed. Scully held him close and ran her hand through his hair affectionately.

When he'd finished she made him sit back in the chair again. 'Come on Mulder, we have to get moving now.' She said, panic rising in her throat as she heard voices. 'Come on, you're going to have to be strong.' She said louder, into his ear. She wasn't sure if he could hear her properly. She took hold of his hand and he nodded weakly. Scully pulled him up with all her strength and when he got to his feet he fell sideways onto her. Scully grabbed him and gritted her teeth taking his weight and pushed him back up straight. 'Come on Mulder, we're going to have to do better than that.' She said, exhausted. Mulder nodded and held onto her tightly.

'I'm sorry, I just haven't stood up for a while, and I can't feel my legs.' He said weakly. Scully nodded.

'I know.' She said softly. They made their way over to the window and Scully suddenly had an idea. She took out her torch and threw it through the window. Mulder blinked as the morning sun shone strongly in his eyes. Scully moved with him towards the window and kicked the rest of the glass out.

'Scully…I…I'm cold.. so cold.' He said shivering. Scully frowned with concern and let him lay down on the floor. She opened her bag again and found a blanket. She pulled it out and went down to him. She wrapped it round his shoulders and then put an arm around him and pulled him up again. Mulder managed to keep his balance this time and he took a step forward.

'That's better, take it easy Mulder.' She said softly. Suddenly her heart jumped in her throat as she heard the voices getting louder and someone was shouting. Scully looked up out the window and saw a small hill and in the distance, another side of the forest. She looked at Mulder then back at the door behind her. 'Come on!' She said forcefully as she made it to the window. Mulder sat on the ledge and painfully lifted his legs over. He stumbled but made it over. Scully jumped out as quickly as she could and grabbed Mulder and pulled him up quickly.

'Mulder… come on.' She said, panicking. Mulder forced himself up and grabbed onto her again. They started to run up the hill. Mulder was feeling a little stronger now, the medicine Scully had given him had made him feel better but he started to cough as the thick moist air caught in his throat. They were nearly at the top when Scully felt a bullet hit the ground behind him. She shouted out in shock and held Mulder closer, and ran as fast as she could. 'Come on Mulder!' She shouted to him as more bullets fired over them. Scully held onto him tightly as they ran into the trees, her determination was burning inside her. Just to feel him next to her again was such a relief. Mulder felt his knees start to buckle, but he couldn't stop. His legs felt free again, but they were still so painful. They turned right and went into a large gathering of trees. Mulder saw a small gathering of rocks ahead of him and he took a look behind him to see no one there. 'Come on Scully, we'll stop here.' He shouted, but he stumbled and fell to the ground, hitting his head on a rock. Scully turned back to see him lying face down on the ground. 'Mulder!' She shouted in surprise. Mulder raised his head and grimaced in pain.

'Scully…' He said weakly. She went over to him and bent down next to him taking his gloved hand. Throwing the blanket which she had given him over her shoulder she grabbed Mulder and lifted his arm up over her shoulder again. 'Come on keep moving!' She shouted.

She could hear voices echoing around the forest. Scully pulled him near and ran as fast as she could towards the rocks. She took a sharp left and Mulder stumbled a little. Mulder had found a wall of rocks which were almost like a shelter. Scully ran behind them and slowed down carefully. She fell to her knees, exhausted, and let go of Mulder carefully. Her lungs ached and she closed her eyes for a moment and tried to get some air back in her lungs. Scully lay him down on his back on the ground. Mulder opened his eyes and his head spun painfully and his vision swayed. He put a hand to his head in pain. Bringing it away he saw blood on his fingers. Scully grabbed her gun up again and taking a breather she went up the side of the rock wall and peered over the top, to see if anyone was coming. The sun glittered through the trees and she frowned in concentration as she scanned the trees as they swayed in the wind.

After a few minutes when there was no sign of anyone, she looked across at Mulder with worry and saw that he lay on the ground, taking huge wheezing breaths. Scully frowned with concern and moved towards him putting her gun away. She stroked his cheek softly. Mulder shivered violently.

'Mulder? You ok?' She asked softly. He nodded slowly. Scully picked up the blanket from the ground and lay it over him. She moved close to him and put her hand on his chest feeling the heavy rise and fall. She put her ear to it and heard the painful rasping.

'I don't.. don't know...' He said weakly with confusion. Scully frowned with concern and she took his hand. 'How's your head?' She said softly. Mulder sighed and tears stung his eyes for the first time.

'It's all right.' He said adding pressure to her hand. Mulder stared into her eyes sadly and she squeezed his hand reassuringly.

'Look at you…' She said sadly, feeling emotion tie her stomach in knots. 'You'll be fine.' She said strongly and took hold of her rucksack and took out her first aid kit. She took out some surgical wipes and dabbed it on his head. Mulder winced as the antiseptic stung the wound. 'I'm sorry.' She said softly. He sighed and closed his eyes. Scully cleaned the wound then got out a large band aid and dressed it. Mulder sighed heavily and shook his head.

'I'm sorry for being such a nuisance Scully.' He said. Scully smiled weakly and felt a tear run down her face. Mulder looked up at her and frowned with concern when he saw her crying. He lifted a hand to her cheek. Scully closed her eyes and melted into his touch. 'I'm sorry I upset you, I didn't want you to get hurt.'

'You would have died today if I hadn't come Mulder. I wish you wouldn't put your life at such a risk.' She cried. 'Mulder, look what's happened to you, look what you're done to yourself!' Mulder stroked her face slowly.

'I'm sorry Scully.' He said sincerely. Scully nodded and brushed the tears away angrily, trying to stay strong. He clasped her hand as she was about to pull it away. Scully stared into his eyes with surprise and they looked at each other for a moment. 'You're cold.'

'I'm all right. You've got my gloves on.' She said quietly. Mulder squeezed her hand and smiled weakly.

'Thank you for coming to get me Scully.' He said with adoration.

'I had to come.' She said, tears falling heavily down her face now. Mulder brushed them away and looked at her sadly. 'I had to come and get you because I thought I was going to lose you. I don't know if I can help you that much now Mulder, we can't go to a hospital and you're chest is really hurt, you're coughing up blood…' She said quickly, panicking. Scully felt her breathing get heavier and she couldn't control herself. Mulder slowly got up from lying down and painfully sat up next to her. 'No, Mulder don't get up.' She said trying to help him back down but he wouldn't let her and with all his strength he pulled her close to him and stared into her eyes. Scully felt her tears fall hopelessly and she wanted so much to hold him. She looked up at him sadly with eyes which searched for his comfort and understanding. Mulder's eyes were soft and caring, and Scully let herself smile weakly as he held her, contradicting her heavy tears. He smiled back slowly but then frowned with concern as she hung her head. Mulder kissed her on the forehead and put an arm around her slowly. He felt a little stronger now.

'You've done everything you could. I'll be all right.' He said softly. 'Come here.'

Scully fell into his warmth and he pulled her into his chest into a tight embrace. Scully felt her body taking great comfort in his embrace and she held onto him tightly, taking refuge in his warmth. Mulder felt his heart beat loudly with concern for her; seeing her like this was heart breaking. He stroked her hair softly and kissed it.

Scully felt his soft lips touch her hair and head and felt her heart race with excitement and passion for her best friend and her partner, her one companion who could always be there for her. Mulder shifted his weight a little and moved his arm to her shoulder and caressed it slowly. Scully sighed and closed her eyes and fell into a dream like state. After a few minutes she spoke.

'Mulder…' She whispered.

'Yes?' He answered in suspense.

'Are… are you all right?' She asked softly and sat up to face him. She looked at him and saw that he was shaking and she saw how weak he looked. She put a hand on his cheek caringly. Mulder stared into her eyes in a questioning glance and wondered what she was thinking. He saw how beautiful they were in the evening light and how comforting she was to look at, after being held captive and without her.

'I gotta be honest with you, I don't feel so great.' Mulder said weakly and grimaced in a moment of pain. Scully frowned in concern and moved to face him, and sat between his legs to help spread the warmth. Mulder let out a long breath as she sat closer to him and faced him. Scully stroked his cheeks and put her forehead to his slowly and she felt her emotions run wild for him with concern and adoration. She felt him shiver and rubbed his shoulders with her hands.

'It's all right… it's all right.' She said softly and caught his gaze. Their eyes pierced into each others. Scully felt a feeling of surprise take over her as she felt the urge to kiss him, but she didn't know if it was the right thing to do. She didn't want to surprise him or upset him. She felt his eyes bore into her soul and even though they knew each other inside out, they seemed to get even closer in that one moment. Scully felt the cold air catch in her chest in surprise as she puzzled about her strong feelings, and as she was about to blink and pull away, Mulder moved in to kiss her on the lips.

Their lips met softly and with care, and they kissed for a moment. Scully's mind was suddenly put on a freeze frame and she didn't know what to think. She was lost in the romance of the moment.

They parted and looked at each other with surprise. Mulder seemed to look worried and Scully noticed this and ran a hand through his hair and to his cold ear, making it warm and she managed a smile.

'Mulder…wow.' She gushed and let out a small laugh. To her great relief Mulder's worried expression broke into a smile too and they smiled at each other for a moment. He opened his mouth to speak but she put a finger to his lips. 'Shh, don't say anything. You don't need to explain.' She said softly, and kissed him again, this time longer and more passionate. Scully felt her body warm up a lot more. They parted again and smiled at each other, but it was less casual than before.

'You're so beautiful.' Mulder said quietly and Scully smiled happily. 'Scully, I've always had this feeling inside… always…' He said softly. Scully nodded and rested her forehead on his again. 'Well that definitely made me feel better.'

'This doesn't change anything.. right?' Scully said softly and stroked his cheek softly. Mulder paused for a moment and then shook his head.

'No, no it doesn't.' He managed to say, however his heart was hurting inside. Somehow, he felt that Scully's feelings weren't quite as strong as his, however he didn't want to start that now. The moment was too wonderful to ruin. Mulder sighed and felt her body enclose on his and she pulled him into an embrace. They stayed like that, so happy to be in each other's company, until the sun started to go down.


	4. Chapter 4

**Planning**

Scully looked up at the stars and leant against the rocky surface. The small fire they had made crackled in the air and threw orange and red patterns across their faces. She sighed and closed her eyes, feeling herself drift into a doze. She shivered with the cold and it woke her senses. She turned towards Mulder and saw him lying on the ground sleeping. She smiled a little and felt relief flow through her, that he was still with her and that they were safe. Scully sighed with happiness and shifted to get more comfortable.

'Scully?' Mulder said in a muffled tone. Scully turned to face him in surprise.

'What, I thought you were sleeping.'

'I was thinking that we should go back in there, try and find out what's really going on.' Mulder said sleepily. Scully frowned in annoyance.

'You can't be serious.'

'Why would I be joking Scully?' He said in a voice which was almost as if he was laughing. Scully shook her head in disbelief.

'And how do you propose we get in there?'

'Well, we'll have to plan something.' He said, moving over onto his front. Scully saw his face glimmer in the fire light.

'Like what? I told you to get some rest Mulder.' She said, turning back away from him and pulling a blanket over herself.

'I've had some rest. I just need to know if you're going to come back in with me.' Mulder said; his voice softer now. He sat up slowly and Scully turned to him quickly in anger.

'Mulder what are you doing? You have to lie down and rest!' She shouted and moved towards him. She reached forward to push him down but Mulder grabbed her arms and held her above him. They stared into each others eyes. Scully suddenly blushed and pulled away from him angrily and brushed her hair back awkwardly.

The two of them sat awkwardly for a few moments and Mulder started to cough. Scully looked at him sadly and frowned with concern. He started to cough heavier and she moved towards him slowly. She took her medical bag and got out another injection. She prepared it as he hunched over in pain.

'Mulder, come on it's all right, sit up straight.' She said softly. Mulder sat up as she said and tried to catch his breath. Scully prepared the syringe and tapped it with her nails. She pulled Mulder's arm out and injected him carefully.

Mulder sighed and hung his head low. Scully put the syringe away and put an arm around him affectionately. Mulder coughed more but found his breath slowly. Scully looked at him with concern.

'You're not well enough for a start Mulder, you need a lot more rest and we need to get out of the country and get you to a hospital.' She said.

'Scully we're never going to get out of the country without being found out.' He said weakly. Scully sighed with frustration.

'Well if we don't get you help soon you're going to be ill for a long time.' She snapped, and pulled away from him. Mulder looked at her hopelessly.

'Scully, I know what's in there.' He said quietly. Scully didn't answer. 'It's something which we need to prove. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine.' He said.

'No Mulder, you won't be fine.' She snapped.

'I don't care if I'm ill I just want to prove this. I need to show the people what's out there.' He said with longing. Scully shook her head hopelessly.

'Mulder, I know how much you want to prove this to people and so do I.' She said with sympathy. There was a silence between them, then Scully felt guilt take over suddenly. 'Mulder, I believe you. I saw something when I was in the base, before I found you, and I didn't tell you.'

'What?' Mulder said with hurt. Scully sighed.

'I saw a large room which was like a science laboratory. It was amazing, and so well constructed. I don't know what they were trying to do there, but they were making or holding a large tank full of strange green liquid.' She said unbelievingly. Mulder stared at her with interest.

'Well you'll come with me then, please Scully.' He begged. Scully sighed heavily and looked at him with annoyance.

'We'll see how you feel tomorrow and then we'll decide. I took pictures of it, so we can use that for evidence.' She said in a low voice. Mulder nodded and laid back down again closing his eyes realising that he wasn't going to get a better answer than that. Scully looked down sadly, and felt fear rise in her stomach and she needed to tell him straight away.

'Mulder, there was another thing that happened at the base.' She started. Mulder turned and looked at her with concern.

'What is it Scully?'

'When I went in that room, the lights came on automatically, but then something happened, it was as if something… it was as if something took a photo of me as I entered.' She said with difficulty, fear in her eyes.

'What are you scared about?'

'What if they took a photo of me and now have evidence I was in there.' She said, her voice wavering. Mulder looked at her with sympathy and condolence, and reached out to hold her hand.

'Whatever it was Scully, you're safe now, and I'm not going to let anything happen to you.' He said in a low voice. Scully felt adoration and emotion fill her insides and she looked at him with great affection. Mulder gave her a small smile then moved back to his lying position and closed his eyes. Scully looked at him with a smile but then felt her stomach cry out at her. She was very hungry, and she knew that they needed food. She reached into her bag and brought out a few supplies she had brought. She bit into an apple and lay back down on her blanket and looked up to the sky thinking about how she was going to deal with Mulder.

Scully woke up suddenly and stared across the open space. She felt her heart race in her chest as she heard trees rustling heavily. She scanned the area around her madly and stood up quickly, sensing a presence around her. Taking deep breaths trying to steady herself, Scully opened her eyes wide in shock when she saw something coming out of the trees towards her. She squinted in confusion as the bushes and trees started to sway together as if one entity. Scully rubbed her eyes to try and focus properly, but to her horror they were moving towards her, as if wanting to touch her. Scully scrabbled backwards in fear and reached for her torch. She pulled it up and quickly flashed it on and the area around her was suddenly light, and she saw it in a completely different way.

Scully breathed heavily and nervously as she looked around with fear. Her torch shone on the trees and she saw that they had stopped swaying, and she took a deep breath and frowned in confusion and annoyance at the sudden change. Scully thought to herself that she must just be dehydrated and that her mind was playing tricks on her, and with a deep breath she switched the torch out and went to lie down on her side.

Scully moved slowly to the ground but suddenly she was grabbed by the hair and pulled up to a standing position. Scully's heart skipped and her stomach flipped heavily.

'MULD..!' She cried out but was cut short quickly as a hand clasped over her mouth strongly. Scully struggled and kicked to get free but the person behind her was too strong. She felt terror run through her blood and stared, open eyed at Mulder. Suddenly she was pulled away from him and she cried out into the man's hand in pain as he tugged on her hair to pull her away. Scully felt tears sting her eyes and she squinted in agony. She took one last desperate look at Mulder and then was pulled to face the other way and was tugged along the ground roughly, losing her footing. Scully struggled with all her might but fell over a large rock. She was pulled up roughly straight away and she cried out again in agony, but it only came out muffled, her heart was racing with terror.

The Russian soldiers watched as the lady was carried away. When she was far enough away, they looked at each other solemnly and nodded. From behind them a large soldier with a huge scar across his face came into view carrying a body. They smiled a little and looked at Mulder who was sleeping. The soldiers nodded to each other and the man carrying the body brought it into view.

The soldiers gasped with astonishment at the body in his arms. Her eyes were closed and she looked peaceful, as if she was sleeping. Her limp arms hung low and her face was so beautifully made, and so accurate. One of the soldiers smiled menacingly at Mulder and nodded in excitement. The soldier holding the body brushed a piece of red hair from the body's face and touched its cheek softly. He murmured something in Russian and they all agreed silently, as if they were worshipping the body. He then moved towards where Scully had been lying and lay the body down as if it was sleeping. The solider moved to the back of the body and lifted its clothing up, and pulled a latch open. He opened the body up and saw the buttons in the torchlight. The soldiers around him all looked down at the robot with amazement and the solider pressed a few buttons then nodded, closing the latch at the back. He put the clothes back into place and lay the robot down again. Rising slowly he looked at it seriously and to Mulder. He stayed there for a moment then turned to the soldiers, then beckoned them to leave quickly, and with one last look of hope and adoration to the robot, they turned and made their way back to the base.


	5. Chapter 5

**AGENT SCULLY **

'Get over there you stupid girl.' Someone shouted in a thick Russian accent, and Scully was pushed to the side of the door and knocked hard against a wall. She closed her eyes momentarily and felt her head spinning. Scully frowned in confusion and tried to reach out for something to hold onto, but she cried out as someone grabbed her arm and pulled it away from the direction she wanted to go. Scully let out a small cry with confusion and tried to look towards where she was being taken. Suddenly she felt someone grab her arms and pull them behind her. She frowned in annoyance and confusion as something was lifted over her eyes. Scully struggled to get free but didn't succeed. 'Stop it.' The man said roughly, and pulled material over her eyes and then tied it round the back of her head. Scully cried out in anger and tried to push away but she felt her arms being tied at the back as well. Suddenly she was thrown to the ground hard and she felt the damp of the floor seep into her trousers as her knees grazed the floor. The man behind her pushed her down to the floor with his foot and she fell onto her side. She rolled around trying to regain her balance and get up, but she couldn't. Scully screamed out in frustration and fear when she heard the voices get louder and suddenly there was a huge crash and a bright light filtered through the material of the blindfold. Scully looked around her in fear not knowing what was going on. Her breathing was heavy and she got herself to her knees and looked around madly. 'What's going on?' She asked in fear. The voices around her grew to a greater number and they spoke fast in a Russian accent. 'Where am I? What are you doing to me?' She said weakly. A Russian solider came towards her and Scully tried to move backwards from the footsteps. She could sense him near her and he suddenly grabbed her arms. Scully cried out as she was lifted up and was forced to walk blindly forwards. The man said something in Russian and she tried to push him off her. Scully felt her heart beating fast and she tried to steady herself by taking deep breaths. The solider pushed her forward and let go of her arm. Scully stumbled and nearly lost her footing but she swayed on her feet weakly. 'What.. what is it?' She asked between breaths. There was a sudden silence and Scully looked around in terror. 'Tell me what's going on!' She shouted in fear, but there was no noise. Slowly and quietly, Scully heard a low buzzing which grew in volume after a few seconds. She frowned in confusion and tried to look through her blindfold but she could only see a green light seeping through it. Slowly, the buzzing got louder and Scully started to feel strange. Her head started to ache, and she felt nauseous. Her head got more and more painful and she started to feel faint. The noise got louder and louder and she looked around madly for refuge. 'Stop it! Help! Somebody help me!' She cried, and she felt the air start to get thicker and hotter. She felt her body weaken and she started to panic, feeling the air get hotter and her head get worse. Scully turned and tried to run away from the noise, but it was the same all around the room.

The buzzing got louder and louder until it was unbearable and she felt like her ear drums would burst. Scully cried out in agony as her head soared with pain and she felt the hotness burn her skin. She collapsed to the floor in pain and felt her body give up.

**Imperative Operation**

Mulder opened his eyes and felt the morning air fill his lungs. He looked over to Scully and saw that she was lying peacefully asleep at his side. Mulder sighed to himself and let out a small cough. His lungs felt free from difficulty breathing again and he took a deep breath of relief. Mulder rolled over slowly and felt his body strength return to him. He looked at Scully for a while lying on her side turned away from him. He reached over to wake her up and put a hand on her shoulder. The air was very cold again and mist filled the air. Mulder sighed when she didn't move and took his hand away from her. He got up slowly and pulled a coat over him. He looked ahead of him and saw the air was filling with morning mist. The ground was wet and he looked at the trees carefully and felt the same strange feeling that they were watching him, that they were calling out to him and wanted to have something from him, but Mulder didn't know what. They swayed together and their leaves, deep green in colour, started to reach out to him. Mulder sighed in confusion and looked down at Scully again who was still asleep. He turned back to the trees and saw that they were straight again and didn't move. He frowned in confusion and annoyance as he tried to see if they moved again and called out to him, but they didn't. Mulder sighed and scanned the area for any movement, making sure that he and Scully were safe. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and he jumped in shock and turned round to face a bright eyed Scully.

'Did I scare you?' She asked with a playful smile. Mulder smiled in surprise at her.

'Just a little, I'm trying to look out for soldiers.' He said. Scully frowned in confusion.

'What soldiers?'

'The soldiers from the base,' Mulder said. 'I was just looking out to see if they had come looking for us, just to be extra careful.'

'Oh, all right.' She said with a small smile, and turned away from him. She went towards the bags which she had found earlier and looked at them with confusion, trying to work out what was in them. The robot's microchip started to register that it was Agent Scully's bag and that it must belong to her because she was playing Agent Scully. Its chip started to register that Mulder was falling for it already, and that she was succeeding. The mission statement, 'Kill Agent Mulder', flashed in front of her eyes. The robot turned and smiled at Mulder, and he looked at her with a puzzled expression.

'Are you ok Scully?'

'I am fine.' She said on automatic response with a definite tone. Mulder nodded and walked towards her.

'I'm ok now, I feel a lot better. If you're worried about me, don't be.' He said with a soft voice. The robot stared at him for a moment with a blank expression, not knowing how to react to this kind of statement. She looked into Mulder's eyes and waited while her chip registered an emotion to show. Suddenly the robot's eyes started to water a little and her mouth started to droop. Mulder looked at her with concern for a moment and then put a hand on her shoulder.

'I'm glad that you are feeling better.' The robot said in Scully's voice, 'But are you sure you're going to be all right?'

'I'm going to be fine.'

'Do you want me to check you?' She said suddenly. Mulder looked at her with a puzzled expression.

'What do you mean?'

'Check your injuries.' The robot said; confirming the statement. Mulder sighed and shook his head.

'Come on Scully, you've checked them enough and I'm fine, we have to go back to the base now, come on.' He said with a small smile. The robot looked at him in surprise while the chip registered what was happening.

'Yes, let's go to the base.' The robot said and walked towards the bag which was hers, then started to walk ahead.

'Hey Scully, you forgot your coat!' Mulder said with confusion, holding it up for her. Mulder frowned at Scully forgetting her coat and wondered why she wasn't cold. 'Aren't you cold? It's freezing up here Scully.' He said. She turned to him slowly and smiled a little.

'How silly of me, I must have forgotten.' She said blankly. Mulder frowned with concern.

'Are you sure that you're all right Scully? You seem a little… different.' He said with confusion. Scully came towards him and took the coat from his arms and put it round herself.

'I'm fine, come on.' She said, and smiled at him encouragingly. Mulder nodded and followed after her, carrying their belongings away and leaving their place of refuge behind the rocks.

Mulder stared at her walking away from him. He frowned in confusion and watched her eager stride into the wood. She didn't usually act like this and he worried whether he had done something wrong, or hurt her feelings. He walked faster to catch up with her.

'Hey Scully, what's the rush?' He said. She turned round with a blank expression.

'I thought you wanted to go to the base, that's where we're going.'

'How come you know the way so well, do you know where you're going?' He asked with surprise. Scully didn't answer, and Mulder sighed and shook his head apologetically. 'I'm sorry, if you're doing this because I'm desperate to get into the base then I'm sorry, I didn't mean to force you into doing something you don't want to.' He said quietly, with his head low. Scully looked at him blankly and didn't respond. Mulder raised his head to look up at her and looked into her eyes which were blank of expression, and she looked almost lifeless. Mulder frowned in fear and wonder at her, sensing that something was wrong. Suddenly her head moved quite quickly and she tilted it to one side and then her facial expression changed to a sad smile.

'No Mulder, it's not what I don't want to do. I am trying to help you, so let's go.' She said in a definite tone. Mulder raised his eyebrows in surprise as she turned and carried on towards the base. He sighed and followed her in confusion, wondering what on earth had happened to her.

Scully coughed and rolled over onto one side. She sighed heavily as the breath inside her carried through her lungs like a saw running along a piece of wood. She frowned in pain and grimaced, holding her stomach with her hand as she felt sick. She opened her eyes slowly and looked around her. Her blindfold had gone and so had the ropes around her hands. She frowned in confusion and turned her head to the door to see if anyone was around. A faint humming noise filled her ears and made them ring annoyingly, and the memory of the deafening sound entered her ears, and she put her hands up to them to try and shield them from the noise. Scully saw a dark room, and a large glow of green light coming from in front of her, which grew then went faint continuously. Her face glowed in it for a few seconds, and then it went away. Scully edged herself up to a sitting position and shook her head in confusion and fear. She felt tears catch in her throat as she felt the pain inside her and how powerful that machine had been. Her eyes opened wide in fear and she felt herself shake nervously, as she suddenly remembered the guards taking her away in the night, and putting something by Mulder, something strange and dangerous. Scully shook her head trying to remove the memory, as she remembered the creature. It was something exactly like her. It was almost a clone, but it wasn't her. It had been left with Mulder, and he wouldn't know she was gone. Scully felt a tear run down her face and she sighed heavily in fear as she realised that Mulder wouldn't come looking for her, and that he had been tricked. She started to shake, and curled herself up holding her legs close to her chest as if trying to protect herself. Suddenly someone entered the room and a beam of white light shone across the room. Scully scrambled backwards in fear and to her horror, in a split second the whole room was filled with bright, white light and immediately her eyes started to soar in pain and her senses were ruined. Scully felt pain run all up and down her body and she screamed out horrifically holding one hand to her eyes and one up to the ceiling as if shielding her from the horrible light. She cried out in a deep rasping tone which mad her almost sound mad. She was in such pain and she couldn't bear it, she cried out for help and for refuge, for someone to turn the lights off.

'Turn the lights off!' A Russian man shouted trying to cover Scully's screams. She was lying down now, trying to scramble away and frantically moving her limbs. The screams coming from her were almost unearthly. 'TURN THEM OFF!'

The room was dark again, and Scully's screams slowly died down and then there was a silence where only her terrified heavy breathing could be heard.

'Are you awake?' The man said, his accent was heavy and voice was low. Scully didn't answer and continued to scramble away for her safety. 'I'm sorry that we have to treat you this way, but to be honest you brought it upon yourself. You know why you're here, don't you?' He asked. There was no reply for a moment and then she said something in a high pitched voice which echoed around the room.

'No why?'

'Don't be stupid.' The man said with aggression. Scully heard him take a few steps nearer. 'You saw our experiment before you took away our prisoner. Don't you remember that flash of light which erupted when you entered this very room? Didn't you wonder what it was? It was a photograph of you. We have a very high level of security here Miss Scully, don't try and trick us.'

'What is that thing?' She asked, afraid.

'It's a generator, full of Idiolatic solution.' He said in a low voice. Scully's head spun in confusion.

'I've never heard of that.' She said weakly.

'You wouldn't have done, it's our new work of genius.' He said.

'Well what the hell is it made from?' She said in an angry voice.

'Various poisons from rare plants…' the man started and paused casually for a few seconds, 'and a few other toxic solutions.'

'What the hell is it for?' Scully shouted.

'Don't you worry about that yet. It's a powerful solution, it helps people.'

'It helps people? That thing nearly killed me.'

'No, that's where you're wrong. It's making you better, it's making you stronger.' The man said, coming closer. Scully's heart beat loudly in her chest in fear as she saw his face emerge out of the dim green glow. His features were harsh and strong, and he glared at her.

'The US government is going to have a good time shutting you down. There's no way you're a military base. Now I know why this place is so important to you, why you'd kill for it.'

'Exactly, and we would have killed Agent Mulder who we had captive if you hadn't intervened. I'm guessing that you're his partner, you're an FBI agent too.' The man said angrily. Scully jumped as she felt him grab her leg roughly. She cried out in shock as she tried to pull away.

'Get off me!' She shouted. 'They're going to find out and shut you down!'

'Not if they don't know that it is dangerous, we will say that it is a health improvement medicine, then we will get it into the system of the country. First Russia… next, the rest of the world. You are the first and therefore, the luckiest.' He said and squeezed her leg violently. Scully cried out as she felt his hand touch her skin. She felt her stomach turn and tears sting her eyes and struggled to defend herself but her body refused to move.

'This is a revelation, this is a wonderful thing. We will be blessing all who have the solution inside, you have been cleaned with it. It has affected you but you will feel the benefits soon, I assure you.'

'What benefits! What have you done to me!' She shrieked.

'You feel weak now, but you will be stronger than ever.'

'HOW!' She screamed. The glow of the green light showed the man glaring over her. Scully gasped as he put his hand further up her leg and came to touch her stomach. She started to shake with fear and grabbed his arm to try and force him off. She screamed as he pushed her arm down with a great force to the floor. He leant over her and stared into her eyes madly. 'GET OFF ME!'

'You will see, you will be strong in mind, but not in body. You will enter a coma like state while your body replaces its properties with the idiolatic, then you will be transformed into something greater. All the memory of yourself will be gone, but you will be a stronger and more powerful being. You will be our first experiment. Like a test subject in a lab we will treat you, and you will not escape.' He said, grabbing her shoulders violently and throwing her to the floor on her back. Scully winced in pain. 'You will be killed at the end because you will be no more use to us. This will be a great advantage to you I promise my child.' He said with a sick smile and to her horror Scully felt his hand brush her hair and cheek. She felt sick and with all her strength she kicked him hard in the stomach and forced him off her and onto the floor beside her. Scully heard the man cry out in pain and she rolled over twice to get away from him. The green glow filled her eyes and she sighed in exhaustion and tried to fight back the terrified tears. Scully heard him moving beside her and tried to roll over again and get away, but her body again refused to move. She cried out in frustration but he grabbed her from behind and pulled her onto her back. Scully screamed as the man slapped across the face and pinned her down. 'How dare you, you little bitch.' He spat angrily at her. Scully saw his eyes were full of madness as he glared down at her. 'I'm going to treat you like shit you hear me? You're a piece of shit to me!' He shouted and Scully screamed as his hands started to tug at her clothes and then at her skin under them.

'GET OFF! LEAVE ME ALONE!' She screamed as she tried to scratch him with her nails. 'I'm an agent of the FBI! You're going to die! You're going to die if you touch me!'

She closed her eyes and wished she wasn't there and tried to think of Mulder, and being safe. She tried to ignore the feeling, but he was strong and he grabbed and pulled at her violently. Scully screamed and tried to push him off but she wasn't strong enough. She continued to scream and the man slapped her again twice. Scully felt her lip start to bleed and she closed her eyes weakly. Suddenly the man raised his fist and swung it across her cheek hard, and she fell into darkness.


	6. Chapter 6

**Suspicion**

Mulder followed Scully slowly and felt the thick air fill his lungs. It was damp and full of moisture and was making it hard to breathe. He looked at Scully moving quickly and sighed heavily in annoyance.

'Scully, slow down.' He shouted, leaning his hands on his legs and taking a breather. The stopped and turned round to look at him.

'What's wrong?'

'I'm finding it hard to breathe, the air's heavy.' He said in a low voice.

'We're nearly there.' She said with a confident smile.

'I know, but I'm finding it hard to breathe.' He said again, with an angry tone this time. He started to wheeze and cough. 'Scully.. Scully I can't breathe.' He said weakly and reached out a hand to her. To his surprise she stood and looked at him with a blank expression.

'Are you all right?'

'No… Scully I think I need help.' He said desperately. Scully continued to look at him blankly and to his surprise she smiled suddenly.

'You will be all right.' She said blankly. Mulder frowned in confusion and put hand to his throat.

'No Scully, please help me.' He rasped weakly. 'Give me an injection again or something. I…I can't go on, I have to rest.' He said, and let himself rest on the ground. He looked up at her and felt anger and confusion as she stayed looking at him. 'Scully!' He shouted.

'We have to keep going, I don't know what injection you mean. I haven't given you an injection before.'

'What the hell are you talking about Scully?' He shouted taking heavy breaths. 'Have you completely changed or something? You're usually helping me by now! You're a doctor! Help me!' He said desperately. But to his horror she stood still. Mulder couldn't believe it. He looked up at her again and into her eyes. Suddenly he felt fear boil inside as he looked deeply into her eyes. There was something wrong. She wasn't the same, something was different. Mulder felt his breathing ease a little more and he stared at her for a while.

'What is it?' She asked with a large grin. Mulder shook his head slowly as he came to realise in fear. It felt as if the whole world around him crumbled.

'You're not Scully.' He said in a low voice and stared into her eyes. She frowned and laughed.

'What do you mean?'

'You're not Scully.' He said again, and got up slowly. She frowned in confusion and Mulder started to walk towards her slowly in a threatening manner. He reached into his coat slowly as he advanced towards her and felt his hand brush the metal of his gun. 'Get the hell away from me.' He said slowly. She looked at him and laughed again. 'Quit laughing. Scully would never laugh in this situation.' The robot's head tilted to one side and looked at him with suspicion. Mulder drew his gun out of his coat slowly and just when it was going to be in view he pointed it at her head quickly. The robot took a step back and put her hands up in surrender.

'Mulder, don't do it.' She said, her eyes watering with nervous tears, she looked exactly like Scully. Mulder faltered.

'Shut up!' He shouted, trying not to let her trick him. She looked at him in surprise and worry.

'Mulder, please don't, don't do it.' She said, her voice wavering with fear. Mulder shook his head to get her out of it and pointed his gun at her harder. Scully stared in horror.

'Mulder come on, what's wrong. Just put the gun down, it's me, what are you doing!' She shouted hysterically, and to Mulder's surprise a tear ran down her cheek. 'Mulder, don't you trust me… what's wrong have you gone crazy or something? Are you ill? Dammit Mulder you know that I'm on your side.'

'Shut up! You're not Scully so stop trying to be her! WHERE IS SHE!' He shouted loudly, a cold sweat appearing on his brow. Scully looked at him with confusion and sadness.

'Mulder, I'm right here…'

'WHERE IS SHE! The real Scully!' Mulder said and realised he was shaking. He was terrified that he was wrong and terrified that he was right and that Scully was in grave danger. His heart skipped a beat and he clicked his gun into place. He aimed it at her head and took a deep breath, trying not to falter. Her eyes were full of fear and looked so real, but he knew it was a trick. It was so hard to point his gun at her and threaten her it felt like a knife was stabbing into him when he spoke to her this way, but he kept telling himself, 'It's not Scully, It's not Scully', he said. She looked at him with horror and started to cry.

'Mulder, you're going crazy, what's happened to you!' She said hysterically. Mulder moved forward and she stumbled backwards on a stone to get away from him. Mulder finally made up his mind, and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and felt his heart beat loudly. She started to scream, and he tried to block her voice out. He sighed and turned away from her, and put one hand over his face in sorrow. He pulled the trigger, and the screaming stopped.

Mulder felt panic run through his blood as he realised what he had done. His finger's loosened on the gun and he dropped it shakily to the cold ground. His eyes were squeezed shut and the reality of the situation started to sink into his mind. He slowly tried to breathe again, and found even that hard to do. His heart was pounding loudly and he felt as if he should kill himself. He didn't deserve to live.

What had he done? He'd shot her and killed her. Scully… his partner, the only one that he could trust and now he had ruined her trust. He hadn't believed her, and he felt ready to die for it. Mulder's mind quickly flashed to his place in the FBI and how he would lose it, and never manage to find aliens or to prove the cigarette smoking man wrong. Everything he had ever lived for, he had just lost. Mulder then thought of Mrs Scully, and he was almost sick at the thought of her hatred towards him and great disbelief of a loss of another daughter. Mulder couldn't believe it. What had he done?

Mulder's shaking got more violent and to his horror he let out a sob and fell to the ground clutching his face with his hands. He fell to his knees and sobbed heavily, not daring to look at her. He felt total despair and horror at himself, how had he known if it hadn't been Scully? All he could think was that he had done the wrong thing, that it actually had been Scully. His fear was taking over his thoughts and body and he cried heavily and slowly reached his hand over to the gun that lay on the ground in some grass. His fingers touched it then he scrambled to pick it up. Mulder took a deep breath and held the gun in his hand murderously again, and he turned it towards his face preparing to take his own life.

'I'm so sorry Scully… I didn't know what I was… doing.' He said between sobs. Mulder's heart ached with guilt and he ran a tired hand through his hair. He put his fingers in the trigger and got ready to pull it… but something made him stop.

He had to check. He had to make sure it was definitely Scully that he had killed, because he just might have been right. There might have been just the slightest hint of truth in his judgement. Mulder sighed heavily and frowned with confusion as his mind battled with his thoughts. He had to look, he had to check. But what if it was Scully, he would be completely destroyed to see her dead, and knowing he had done it, would he be brave enough to take his own life as he did now? Just the thought of it made him want to die, and he felt sick with rage at himself. Mulder sighed and felt tears sting his eyes as he turned his head slowly and painfully to look at Scully, dead at his feet.

Her hair was panned out on the ground underneath her head and the gun shot wound was… no where to be seen. Mulder looked at the body in surprise and squinted to try and look more closely. He moved towards her slowly, trying not to touch her because he was so afraid that she would come back to life and try to kill him. He was scared of what she might say to him after all these years of trust…

Mulder sniffed his tears away although his heart was painfully pounding as he looked at her dead body, it looked so much like her and she looked pale and peaceful. He moved towards her head and saw that there was no gun shot wound, then down at her coat and chest and he was astonished to find no blood. Mulder ripped open her coat roughly in desperation and hysteria, as he tried to find the evidence. He pulled open the jumper she was wearing under the coat and saw a small hole where the bullet had gone through, but still no blood. Mulder frowned in suspicion and confusion as he lifted up the jumper, expecting to see a heavy gun shot wound on her delicate skin, but there was only a hole… with no blood.

Mulder felt fear rise inside of him and he looked up at her face again in horror. This wasn't Scully, he had been right. Not only was she not Scully, this thing wasn't human. Mulder stared in disbelief and looked carefully into the hole in the chest. It was a clean entry, and as he stared into the hole he thought that he noticed something that looked metal or electrical. His eyes opened wide and he let out a cry of surprise when he realised that there were electrical wires and cables inside. This wasn't Scully, this was a damn robot.

Relief spilled through his blood as he realised it wasn't her.

'Thank god.' He gushed, and let out a huge sigh of relief while brushing a tear away from his eye. He fell back onto his knees and closed his eyes for a few moments. Then his thoughts went back to the reality of the situation. If she wasn't here, then where was she?

Slowly, Mulder turned to look at the robot's face again in horror, and a chilling feeling ran down his spine as the likeness to Scully was almost eerie and totally horrific, as if she had been copied inch for inch, to look exactly like her. Mulder suddenly realised the reality… that Scully was gone and in trouble. He cried out in anger and stood up quickly. Mulder kicked the robot in frustration. He looked up to the sky and closed his eyes in defeat and anger. Throwing his head back he let out a long painful shout of Scully's name loudly into the sky, which echoed all around the forest. He bowled over and rested his hands on his knees in exhaustion after the cry and rested there for a few minutes. Mulder frowned in annoyance and found his new strength; he had to get to Scully. He forced his gun into his coat and started his descent down to the base in the freezing weather leaving the robot lying out of power as if it was a dead ghost. As Mulder walked away the trees swayed heavily and a heavy cloud of mist started to surround the robot's body as if it were a protective shield, and after a few minutes it got so heavy that eventually nothing could be seen.

'There is something seriously wrong going on here…' He said to himself, and continued to walk towards the base.


	7. Chapter 7

**Entry and Rescue**

Scully closed her eyes tight as she felt her skin rub against the harsh flooring of the room. She tried to imagine somewhere else where she was safe. She imagined her apartment and tried to feel the soft sofa on her skin as she imagined lying on it. Her thoughts were interrupted by a large surge of pain in her head and she winced in agony. She looked across to the slight green glow of the liquid. It bubbled and moved about like it was being boiled in a kettle, and Scully knew that that meant that it would soon activate again and may be this time, it would burst her ear drums and she would be deaf. It seemed like a strong possibility. She tried to remember what had happened to her and looked down and saw that her clothes were ripped. Her heart skipped a beat as she remembered in shock that she had been attacked by a man, and he had been touching her and ripping her clothes. Scully almost cried at the thought. She struggled to remember what he had done to her, but it was only blackness and all she could remember was what had happened a few seconds ago. Scully tried to look for syringe markings on her arms but she couldn't see any. In panic she searched her body for abuse and to her horror, she realised that there was blood… on the floor. Scully frowned in suspicion and tried to back away from the blood on the floor. She couldn't bear the thought of where it was coming from and she couldn't identify where she was hurt because everything hurt all over. She let out a sob and pulled her knees up to her chin and started to cry into them. She listened to the terrifying humming of the machine as she waited quietly for it to attack her once more. There was nothing she could do.

Scully waited for a few moments preparing herself for the worst. Her head started to feel like it weighed nothing and her vision started to sway. She felt a horrible taste in the back of her throat and closed her eyes trying to stop herself from being sick. The blood was still on her and she desperately tried to ignore it on the floor. She took a deep breath and tried to clear her senses. Suddenly she heard the sound of a door opening from the back of the large room. Scully jumped in fear and closed her eyes tight in terror. She curled herself up in a little ball and tried to get ready to defend herself. Tears stung her eyes as she waited in terror for one of the men to abuse her… after a few seconds her ears managed to pick up a faint familiar voice that was full of emotion.

'Scully?'

Scully couldn't believe what she was hearing. She closed her eyes and tried to push the dream away.

'Scully?' The voice said again, nearer this time and in a whisper. Scully felt the emotion inside her rise and her eyes started to water. She with all her strength she turned around slowly and turned to see Mulder, standing a few feet away from her, his outline a large silhouette. Scully blinked and felt a tear fall from her eyes, suddenly she started to panic and struggled towards him on her knees. Mulder ran towards her and knelt down near to her. Scully cried out in desperation as he grabbed her and pulled her into his arms in a tight embrace. She sighed heavily with relief and felt the tears run down her face. Mulder started to stroke her hair softly and whispered into her ear.

'Scully are you ok?' He asked, his voice trembling. Scully shook with excitement and fear and held onto him with all her strength.

'Mulder… help me Mulder…' she repeated weakly, in sheer wonder that he was there. Mulder frowned with concern and felt his heart ache for Scully. He could feel her shaking in his arms and he wanted so much to make her happier. He was glad that she was still alive.

'Scully, I didn't know where you were… what have they done to you?' He asked with anger, and Scully let out a frightened cry.

'It's ok Scully, I'm not going to hurt you; it's me.' He said softly as she hung onto him tighter. Mulder frowned with concern and stroked her hair affectionately.

'I… I can't… the green thing… it hurts me…. Mulder..' She said weakly. Mulder frowned with confusion and looked around the room while holding her near. Scully shivered in his arms. Mulder's eyes reached the tall green glow in the middle of the room. He frowned as the glow of the green substance started to make his head ache.

'Scully, what's in that thing?'

'Chemicals… they tried… they say that I'm going to change into something… Mulder it really hurts… it hurts Mulder…' She said; her voice full of tears. Mulder stroked her hair again and pulled her nearer his chest and she coughed. Mulder's emotions started to take over and he started to get very angry and frustrated. He started to panic.

'What do you mean they say you're going to change?' He asked tentatively. Scully shook her head.

'I… I don't know…' She said. Mulder's heart sank with fear and anger. He took a deep breath and started to get up slowly, pulling Scully up gently with him. Scully cried out in pain. 'I'm sorry Scully, we've got to get out of here.' He said softly, and she nodded weakly and clung onto him. Mulder saw the green substance start to glow from the other side of the room and felt even more willing to get out of there. Suddenly he slipped his hand along Scully's ripped clothes and noticed that his hand was wet. Mulder frowned in confusion as he lifted his hand up to the glow of the green light and saw what looked like a dark liquid on his hand. Blood. Mulder frowned with shock.

'Scully? You're bleeding…' He said slowly. Scully didn't say anything. Mulder's heart quickened and he broke out in a nervous sweat. 'Scully?' He asked with worry. She held onto him tightly and took a deep breath. She slowly turned her eyes towards him and looked up into his. Mulder's heart skipped as he saw her desperate eyes for the first time.

'I know… I didn't know where from… I couldn't find out. Mulder, someone came in here and was touching me… Mulder… I remember now…' She said weakly, and her voice started to break as if she was terrified. Mulder's eyes opened wide with shock as he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

'Scully, what did they do to you? Was it a man?' He questioned her continuously and held her shoulders tightly. Mulder gazed into her wide eyes.

Scully looked at him and suddenly she remembered. 'Mulder, I remember now… Mulder… oh my god, please don't leave me, they're going to kill me…', she cried out in fear and panic when suddenly she let out a large breath and broke down in tears. Mulder grabbed her as she fell out of his arms and tried to pull her close to him as her legs gave way and she stumbled. He saved her fall and brought her close to him again. He felt his own eyes well with tears of anger as he knew what she was remembering, it was too obvious. Scully let out a sickening scream and Mulder hushed her anxiously, concern and fear soaring through in his blood. She started to sob into his chest and he held her close and told her that he would keep her safe.

'Scully, I swear to God I'll kill the man that did this to you.' He said, his voice wavering with emotion. Scully nodded her head and her heart filled with pride for Mulder. She felt his warm body next to hers and almost sunk into it with comfort. Scully took a deep breath and closed her eyes tight, trying to get some strength back desperately. Mulder sighed greatly and held her close.

'Scully, where are you bleeding?', he asked with concern. Scully's sad face emerged from his chest and her blue eyes looked up to him glistening with tears.

'I couldn't work out where. It hurts everywhere Mulder.' She said weakly. Mulder nodded sympathetically and put a hand on her chin. 'Try and smile, I'm going to get you out of here, I promise. You won't believe what happened to me…'

But he was cut short with the sound of a door behind him being flung open and bright light filling the dark room. Mulder turned in shock and Scully let out a loud cry in terror as the soldiers walked towards them threateningly.

Mulder stared at the men with shock and Scully suddenly ran from him and took refuge in a corner of the room, she huddled herself up into a small crouching position and shook violently. Mulder turned in concern to her, devastated at her mental and physical state. Anger boiled in his blood as the men walked towards him and he took a step towards them with confidence. One held up a gun and pointed it at him as he stepped forward.

'I don't think that's a very good idea do you?' He said in a thick Russian accent and Mulder stood still in surprise.

'What have you done to Scully?' He asked, his voice trembling with emotion. The Russians stared at him and laughed.

'Well you know, we just had a little fun with her. The boss wants her to be transformed.' They said. Mulder frowned with fury.

'FUN with her?' He shouted. What the hell did they mean by that? 'Which one of you did that to her! And don't pretend I don't know you son of a bitch!' Mulder shouted pointing at the guard with a gun. He shifted on his feet and fought the urge to punch their lights out. He couldn't see their faces at this moment and only their silhouettes. They took another step forward and the door slammed shut behind them, plunging them into darkness again. Scully shouted out in fear again and Mulder looked around him in wonder as he tried to work out what was happening. He cried out in shock as the room was suddenly full of bright light and Scully's deafening screams were heard again. Mulder couldn't bear hearing her like that and she turned towards her direction and ran towards her, bending down to take her into an embrace. Scully was shaking violently and Mulder took her hand, and she flinched in shock.

'Scully! Scully! Shhh it's ok!' He said desperately. Scully quietened down and she looked up to Mulder in sadness. Mulder met her gaze and gently stroked her hair. He nodded to her in confidence trying to calm her down. Scully let out a sob and quickly moved towards him and held him tightly. Mulder frowned with concern and hugged her close. He felt the men in the room start to leave. Mulder closed his eyes and desperately tried to think of something to do.

He had to get out of there before Scully went totally crazy. Mulder sighed heavily. He took a look to the room again and blinked in the bright light. The men were gone and the door was closed again.

'Mul… Mulder… why..' Scully was mumbling into his chest. Mulder frowned with concern and stroked her hair.

'What?' He asked softly. Scully sniffed her tears away trying to regain herself.

'Why.. why have they turned on… the.. the lights?' She said, shaking violently. Mulder held her tighter to stop the shaking.

'I don't know. It's all right, I won't let them do anything to you.' He said gently. Scully sighed heavily and to Mulder's surprise she seemed to be getting better. Mulder felt a small humming noise in his ear but thought nothing of it. The light was blinding.

'Mulder, I was raped.' She said quietly and Mulder felt the words hit him like a thousand guns shooting him all at the same time. He didn't know how to handle this. Scully stared at the floor silently.

'No, it's all right, Scully you're going to be fine.' He said awkwardly, looking at her with great concern. How could he make her feel any better? Mulder looked at her still figure and the way she looked at the floor. He felt panicked and put a hand on her shoulder. 'Scully? Scully come on, don't do this. It's all right now.' He said desperately, but she didn't move. Mulder stared at her with worry for a few minutes and she didn't move. Finally, after a long silence she lifted her head up to him and she opened her eyes. The tears were gone and she suddenly looked a lot better. Mulder frowned in surprise.

'All right; how are we going to get out of here?' She said with new grown confidence.

'What?' Mulder asked with suspicion. Scully looked at him seriously.

'Mulder, if I'm going to get out of here I'm going to have to be strong.' She said, her voice wavering slightly. Mulder frowned with concern and took her other arm in his hands. Scully shivered again and blinked back tears. 'I know what's happened to me, and I need to get out of here alive. I have to be strong. There's no time for all of this Mulder.' She said strongly and Mulder admired her bravery and nodded.

'I know, but just remember I'm all right and I'm not going to let anything happen to you.' He said affectionately. Scully nodded and managed a tiny smile. 'I'm so sorry Scully.' He said softly. She turned away from him and grunted in pain as she made her way to her feet. But she was incredibly weak and couldn't make it up all the way. She cried out in pain as her legs gave way and Mulder caught her.

'Scully, take it easy. Come on, stand up carefully.' He said softly. Scully sighed and let herself fall into his arms with frustration. She was eager to get out of there. Mulder's attention turned to the green glow again and he frowned with anger. Scully took one look at it then looked back again, focusing her attention on what was happening. The green light pulsated and Mulder realised that the ringing in his ears was getting worse and his head started to ache. He looked at Scully who seemed to be getting stronger. Mulder looked at her with surprise.

'Mulder, I think I can do this on my own now.' She said, and let go of him. Mulder stared at her in astonishment as slowly she began to walk towards the door, and without the same limp she had before. She had also stopped shaking.

'Scully? You're feeling better?' He asked in astonishment. She nodded and turned to him.

'Yes, are you all right?' It was her turn to ask as Mulder grimaced in pain as the sound started to get louder.

'The green thing… its getting stronger. Can't you hear it?' He said. Scully looked at the green liquid start to move inside the container and she felt her body start to actually start to get better and not worse for the first time. She looked down at her hands and opened her eyes wide as she saw in amazement that they were glowing, like she had a chemical inside of her. Scully gasped as her whole body started to gain strength but Mulder fell down to the floor beside her and cried out in pain. She frowned with confusion and concern and looked at him with puzzled eyes. She bent down to help him and put a hand on his arm as he grimaced in pain and confusion.

'Scully! Scully it's hurting my head so much!' Mulder shouted desperately and Scully felt tears sting her eyes and she took his hand.

'No! Mulder it's all right, I think that this thing is making me stronger. I think they've done something to me… Mulder please, stay with me. I know what you're going through, it's all right. Come on, try and stand up!' She said desperately and the noise of the green substance was starting to get quieter and easier to listen for her. Scully was amazed at the transformation but she realised that it was her turn to help now and needed to save Mulder. She took his arms and with her new strength she found herself lifting him up easily and she swung his arm over her shoulder. Mulder grunted in pain and weakness and they started to walk towards the door quickly, Mulder's feet were dragging on the floor.

'Come on Mulder, come on!' She said loudly and he blinked trying to stay conscious.

'I… I can't..' He said weakly.

'Try to block it out!' Scully shouted to him and then reached the door. She knew that it was hard and metal and was definitely locked. She frowned with concentration and felt her body gain strength by the second. Scully looked down at her arms and gasped in shock to see that they had large muscles. She couldn't believe it. She felt like she was turning into a monster. Scully's respect for this scientific transformation suddenly left her mind and she suddenly felt a wave of fear fill her.

'Oh my god, what's happening to me?' She said under her breath and felt tears sting her eyes in fear. Scully shook her head and tried to think of something to do. Mulder cried out again and her attention was turned to him again and she frowned with determination.

'This strength had better be good for something…' She said angrily, and took a deep breath. She backed up from the large metal door and then when she was ready, she ran towards it as fast as she could and rammed it with her shoulder and left hand side of her body. The metal door moved slightly and Scully was surprised to find that she felt hardly any pain at all. She gasped at the power of her strength as she saw that the door was falling from its hinges. Mulder seemed to be looking now in great confusion and wonder. Scully let out a small laugh of delirium and shock and then rammed the door again, and to her wonder it fell to the floor and bright white sunlight was brought into the room.

Scully opened her mouth wide with shock and took deep breaths. She turned to Mulder and grabbed him quickly then ran out of the room as fast as she could, saving him from the noise. The pair ran into the large room and Scully felt Mulder lose his footing and fall down at her right side bringing her down as well. They fell to the floor and Scully cried out as she rolled over to her left and then hit a pair of legs which stood secure on the floor.

Scully stopped and took a deep breath, and slowly raised her eyes to the man standing in front of her. Her eyes started at his feet then to his legs. The man was wearing old jeans and back boots. She frowned in surprise as he seemed familiar to her. She continued to look up his body and then saw a leather jacket with a white t-shirt underneath. Scully finally got to the head and shoulders and she fell back in surprise gasping in shock as she looked into the glistening eyes of Alex Krycheck, holding a large machine gun to his side; which was aimed right at her head.


	8. Chapter 8

**Realisation **

'Agent Scully, I see you've gained great strength.' Krycheck sneered in a low tone. He said something in Russian which summoned four other Russian soldiers to his side. Scully frowned with anger and fury and she slowly got to her feet. She turned in shock as she heard Mulder cry out in surprise as a soldier grabbed him from behind and pointed a gun at his head. Scully looked at her partner's eyes and tried to remain confident for him. He looked better and less in pain, but he looked angry and terrified.

'Mulder, I'm sure you'll understand our security measures.' Krycheck said angrily and Mulder struggled to get free angrily. Scully felt tears swell in her eyes as she saw Mulder fight to get free.

'Mulder don't! It's all right.' She said, her voice wavering. Scully turned back to Krycheck and frowned angrily.

'It was you all along. It was always you.' She said angrily and clenched her new muscles with fury. Krycheck nodded.

'Of course, we are starting a new project here. You are our first test subject of many.' He said with a slight smile. Scully felt anger burn inside of her. 'I see we were successful.'

'Leave Mulder alone! Take me now that I'm your test subject.' She said with emotion. Krycheck laughed.

'We want to get rid of both of you.' He said and then walked towards her slowly.

'I'm pretty strong right now so I wouldn't come any closer.' She shouted, clenching her fist. Krycheck laughed again.

'You've got five men with guns around you. If you try anything you're going to get killed!' He said confidently. Scully frowned with anger and glared at Krycheck. She scanned around the room and planned her attack. She was ready.

'You've got that very wrong.' She said in a low voice and then suddenly she ran towards him and jumped out of the way of a bullet which flew behind her and then kicked him hard in the face into unconsciousness and grabbed his gun. The guards stared at her with fear as she pointed the gun at them all and took deep breaths. Her eyes were mad with fury and strength and Mulder looked at her with great surprise and shock. Scully smiled and swung her gun around at all of the men and felt her power over them. She clicked the gun into place.

'Don't try anything, let us go!' She shouted. 'Drop him!' She shouted to the man holding Mulder and he hesitated. Scully glared at him and shook her head. 'DROP HI…' She started, but her sentence was stopped to Mulder's horror, as Scully was shot from behind by the leader soldier who entered the large room behind her and out of her sight.

'SCULLY!' He shouted as the man holding him held him tighter and then all the men dropped their guns. Scully lay face down on the floor as blood seeped from her back. Mulder felt his heart break as he saw her, dead.

A.D. Skinner looked at his small clock at the side of his desk and saw the second hand tick away aimlessly. He tried to take his mind off Scully and Mulder, but of course he was worried about where they were. He had no idea as they had not told him where they were going. He had just found their apartments empty after they didn't answer their phones. He reached for his phone and sighed heavily thinking about phoning Mrs Scully, but he was stopping short by realising that he didn't want to worry her. Skinner moved his chair to the right and stood up and walked over to the other side of his office and paced anxiously. They had been gone nearly a week now. Although they were pissing him off and getting him into trouble, he couldn't help being worried for his friends. Skinner sighed and walked towards his desk again and grabbed his jacket in one quick move. He slipped it onto his shoulders and walked out of the office, excusing himself with his secretary and making his way to the car park to go to Mulder's apartment to look for clues.

Mulder stared at Scully's body and couldn't breathe. He he struggled angrily with the guard who held him back. He couldn't believe it. He was in complete shock. He felt fury and hurt roll inside him and he fought back.

'YOU BASTARD!' He shouted across the room at the Russian guard who stood over Scully and looked down her at suspiciously. Mulder felt his body shaking as the Russian guard looked up to the guard holding Mulder and they exchanged glances and spoke in Russian, then turned back to Scully again. Mulder frowned in confusion as the men seemed to be waiting for something. Mulder feared the worse.

'So what are you going to do wait to see if she's dead or not? She's dead! YOU KILLED HER!' He shouted at the top of his voice and then faltered into a sob and his body crumbled in shock and realisation. 'Kill me, kill me now.' He mumbled sadly under his breath and waited for the gun to go off, however Mulder was surprised to find that nothing happened and that the guard was letting go of him slowly. Mulder frowned in confusion and pulled away from the guard and looked back to him and saw that his eyes were focused on where Scully was lying and Mulder frowned in confusion as his heart seemed to catch in his throat. He followed the guard's eyes and realised that the guard was stepping away from him with single slow steps. Mulder turned and then his gaze fell on the floor where Scully was… but she was moving.

Mulder blinked and opened his eyes wide with shock as Scully seemed to be getting to her feet, and regaining her strength. Mulder felt his legs turn to jelly as he wondered if he was dreaming. He saw the main guard take steps backwards also however he had a proud smile on his face. Mulder swallowed hard and saw Scully; yes it was definitely happening now. She unfolded her body by standing up straight and then turned her head round to meet Mulder's gaze. He was speechless. Her eyes were piercing and her hair was roughed up and blocking one of her eyes. Mulder took a step towards her in relief and felt himself break into a smile. Scully stood still and motionless and glared at him. Mulder felt a chill run through his body as something was different, it wasn't right. The guard started to laugh happily and Scully's eyes, to Mulder's horror, started to glow bright green, similar to the mysterious toxic green substance. Mulder lost his feeling of happiness and was hit by the feeling of being sick as she glared at him. She was different, and she looked evil… it wasn't a nice feeling. Mulder backed away from her and blinked shocked tears away from his eyes as Scully started to walk towards him.

'Scu.. Scully?' He said with fear, and backed away quicker, however the guard behind him pushed him forward towards her again and Mulder couldn't stop himself as he fell into her. He cried out in annoyance and Scully grabbed him and to his horror she pulled back his arms into an uncomfortable position. Mulder cried out and opened his eyes wide with shock.

'SCULLY! It's me! You don't know what's happening! STOP you're breaking my arms!' He shouted desperately as she stretched his arms back so that he felt like his bones were about to break. Mulder cried out in pain and gritted his teeth. 'SCULLY! IT'S MULDER!' He shouted but it didn't help, she broke his left arm and then threw him face down to the floor with magnificent force. Mulder cried out in agony on impact and passed out momentarily in helpless pain.

Skinner stormed through the familiar corridor of Mulder's apartment building until he reached Mulder's door. He scrambled for his key which he had found in Mulder's desk drawer. He knew he was being impolite but he was worried sick about them. Something was very wrong. Skinner turned the key and pushed the door open quickly and with force. He entered the familiar apartment and memories came flashing back to him to the times when Mulder had held him at gunpoint and when Scully had tried to get him to help her or tried to see if he was the person to trust. Skinner sighed and moved towards Mulder's desk and caught sight of the goldfish which were opening their mouths to the top of the water tank with hunger. Skinner frowned and got out the fish food and poured a healthy amount into the top of the tank as he watched the fish gulp the food down gratefully. He turned back to the desk and rummaged through pictures of UFOs and letters from various people. He sighed heavily as he found useless information and familiar information which couldn't be too important. Skinner let out a useless laugh and closed his eyes. Who was he kidding? He had no idea what Mulder had gone to look for. He needed help.

Skinner turned on Mulder's computer and found himself with a name and password query. Skinner searched his mind for something Mulder would use as a password. He tried 'ALIEN', but it didn't work. Skinner rubbed his brow and tried, 'UFO' but that didn't work either. He leant back in the desk chair and sighed. He bit his lower lip and tried 'SCULLY' which didn't work again, and then tried his final attempt, 'SAMANTHA' and when he was giving up hope, to his surprise he saw that the computer accepted it. Skinner sighed with relief and took a guilty look around him to see if anyone was watching him. He felt awful prying into Mulder's personal life like this, but he couldn't help it. He found his email and scanned all of the most recent ones carefully to try and find information until he came to the second to last one which was titled, 'Interesting' from an unknown sender.

Skinner opened the email and scanned through it, and with relief he managed to find coordinates. Skinner read them and frowned and blinked. These coordinates were somewhere in Russia. Skinner shook his head and sighed. Mulder's gone to Russia? It explained why he couldn't find either of them around. Skinner pressed print and stood up angrily but also with worry. He turned to Mulder's phone on his desk and dialled the FBI number and requested a team to get ready.

'Yes… this is an emergency. We have two agents who are probably in great danger.' He said with force to the field officer. He turned to see the email fall from the printer and he leant over to pick it up. 'Here are the coordinates….'

Scully felt herself gaining power, gaining strength that she never before knew was even possible to a human. She looked down with confusion at Mulder who lay before her, she remembered hitting him, and hurting him. Her stomach tightened up in fear and confusion however her face was displaying a very different message, it was displaying... _happiness._ Scully felt herself scream from inside of her body and closed her eyes with confusion. She felt some sort of instinct take over her, and it was angry and frightening but she couldn't help it. She didn't understand. Scully looked over to the Russian who was smiling madly at her. Scully took a step towards him and opened her mouth to speak but found that she couldn't find any words. Scully gasped as she looked down at her hands and saw that they were turning… _green._

'My dear, you are the first successful experiment… you are just… magnificent.' The Russian man gushed, his eyes twinkling with love and adoration for the successful invention. Scully tried to speak again but nothing happened. She was stuck inside her body, screaming out inside her head to Mulder and the Russian to stop and help her but she didn't look that way.

She felt her muscles tense up and her hands clenched into fists. She couldn't believe this, why did it always happen to her? She had nearly been turned into an alien before and now this a_… mutant._ Scully sighed and took a step closer to the Russian as her glared at her with great adoration. She tried to tell her body to attack him, but the grasp over her was getting stronger. She didn't have much time.

'You are in process of transformation; we took an alien source from the government and decided to test people with it.' The Russian said, taking a seat now on one of the large industrial machines in the large warehouse. Scully frowned inside and her thoughts turned on. '_The government… the smoking man…' _She thought with hatred. She raised her eyes to the Russian again with great hatred.

'I see that you know who I am talking about. Of course, you and MULDER were the obvious test subjects... to get rid of you ultimately.' The Russian said with a smile. Scully felt her heart break in two and tried desperately to attack the Russian, but she just couldn't

'But don't forget, I am your master and your creator and I will get paid in due course for what I have achieved.' The Russian man said standing up and dropping his gun. Scully looked at it for a second. He neared her and looked at her with love and excitement. Scully felt herself warm to him and admire him as a father. She felt the urge to bow down to him but then reminded herself that she wasn't a mutant but she was Dana Scully she needed to get out of there now. Scully's fading conscience screamed at her inside her head.

'I.. I don't know what I'm doing…' She said, her voice lower than usual and stronger in tone. The Russian let out a small laugh and Scully heard a grunt from behind her. _'Mulder!!_' She thought inside her head.

'You will, you will. It'll only take a matter of time until you change completely. We'll put you back in that room and apply more chemicals to your body and then… you'll be changed forever.' The Russian said happily and reached out to caress her cheek. Suddenly Scully flinched and images of the past few hours of her life flashed behind her eyes and she gasped in memory as she remembered a man touching her and she was fighting against him. She felt tears sting her eyes and the Russian man looked at her with confusion. Scully felt a sickening feeling in her stomach and her conscience screamed out to her, _'Yes! Yes you were raped Dana! You were raped by these men!' _

Whether it was in sheer shock or because she was not herself, her reaction was not as great as it should have been. Scully turned around to see Mulder reaching out to her and trying to get up. She felt her heart beat strongly and felt herself move towards him. The Russian started to shout out angrily and she sensed the soldiers bringing up their guns and advancing towards her from other rooms and angles. Scully felt a hot tear roll down her face as she accepted the memory. Mulder frowned up at her with concern and confusion as she easily pulled him up into a standing position and held his hand. Mulder looked into her eyes sadly.

'Scully… are you…'

'Mulder, don't. Let's talk about this later, right now I need to sa-' She started, but was interrupted by her strong instincts as she felt a man near her and reach for her shoulder from behind. Scully spun round with great strength and speed and to Mulder's amazement she grabbed the solider's arm and with one smooth movement she flipped him over and he crashed to the floor on his back in a cry of pain. Scully gritted her teeth and looked over to see the leader soldier run for the control on the machine containing the green chemical. Scully frowned with anger as he scrambled nervously now and seemed to watch in slow motion as he reached for the switch and turned it on.

'NO!' Mulder shouted out desperately but it was too late. The room filled with the strong hum of the churning of the liquid and the green light got brighter. Scully ran for the soliders coming towards her and hit them with punches to their chins and chests at record speed and agility. She felt her blood pumping through her body strongly and felt the rush of having great strength. She kicked another solider that came towards her from behind and flipped him over to the floor too. Scully spun around to check for more attackers and found that there were no more. She stood in the middle of the scattered bodies and caught her breath. Feeling a sensation of even more strength come over her, her eyes went up to the liquid which was starting to boil inside the chamber. Scully heard Mulder groan in pain and collapse behind her. She turned quickly and ran towards him and caught his fall and held his body close to hers. Mulder looked up at her with wide eyes.

'What do I look like…' Scully said with a small smirk. Mulder let out a small laugh.

'Like you're turning into the female Hulk.' He said weakly. Scully frowned as his comment hurt her feelings. Mulder reached up his hand and touched her cheek. 'But you're still as beautiful as ever…' He said softly, and Scully gasped in surprise at his comment. She felt her heart call out to him, and they stayed there for a moment, however it was broken by the sound of a gun clicking into place behind them. Scully raised her eyebrows and laid Mulder down slowly so he could get some rest from the piercing sound that she knew hurt so much to new listeners. He let out deep breaths in agony. Scully turned slowly to face her creator, her abuser and her enemy. She glared at him.

'Your machine isn't working. I feel like myself. I don't feel like I'm under your control.' She said confidently. The soldier was mad now, and his eyes danced with fury as he raised his gun to Scully's temple.

'Yes, you are the first failure my dear.' He said, his voice full of rage. Scully frowned with fury.

'You don't scare me.' She said threateningly. The solider frowned.

'I'm going to have to dispose of you, right… now…' He said.

'YOU BASTARD!' Mulder shouted angrily from behind him. Scully blinked an angry tear away.

'Try me.' She said in a low voice, confidence burning inside her body. 'You shot me once and it didn't do anything to me.' She took a step towards him.

'Scully!' Mulder cried out in fear.

The solider sighed and shook his head.

'There's something that WILL kill you…' He said in a low voice. 'Something that isn't… normal.' He raised his gun and fired it into Scully's chest.

Scully felt the bullet enter her and she gasped in shock. How was this happening? She hadn't been effected before. She felt the soaring pain of the bullet and tried to take breaths but they were staggering. Scully frowned in confusion and reached down the bullet hole and groaned in pain as she reached into her flesh and pulled the bullet out of her. She stared at the it in surprise trying to figure out what made it so powerful.

'Idiolatic solution has an antidote Agent Scully. We made it just in case the project failed… for a moment like this. From the moment that bullet hit you, you've started to become more human again. You'll never survive two gun shots.' The soldier sneered and lowered his gun. Scully frowned and felt her eyes fill with confused tears as she felt her body soar with pain as it suddenly flowed through her, getting worse by the second. Moving the bullet between her fingertips she felt a liquid substance come out of it. _He shot me with the antidote…_

She heard Mulder's cries from behind her and started to topple over and she lost her footing. Swaggering from side to side and her vision swaying, she started to taste blood in her mouth. She knew from her doctor's instinct that this wasn't good. She frowned in confusion as took her last step and fell to the ground.

'FREEZE!'

The Russian gasped and held his gun up as he heard the loud American voice from behind him. He frowned in confusion.

'DROP IT!'

With one look at Mulder who was now cowering over Scully desperately and was holding her hand the soldier dropped his gun to the floor, his work here was done.

'TURN IT OFF SHUT IT DOWN NOW!' The American ordered and then the solider heard the rustle of feet which told him that the man wasn't alone. But he didn't care now, he had done what he had come for.

The machine was shut down by the Americans and he fell to the floor to his knees as they came up behind him and grabbed his hands, and handcuffed him.

'Agent Danes, American CIA secret service. You are under arrest.' The American said gruffly and then turned him round to face him. The Russian knew that it was over now.

The CIA agents ran towards Mulder and Scully as Agent Danes had caught the Russian. Mulder looked up at them with tearful and sad eyes as he held Scully's hand.

'Agent Mulder? Agent Scully?' One Agent said eagerly. Mulder nodded.

'She's had a lot of abuse, she's been raped… and… and has been experimented on..' Mulder said desperately as the agents gathered around Scully and got out emergency medical equipment. Scully groaned with pain and her eyes flickered. One of the agents got out an oxygen mask and put it over her head to help her breathing.

'Agent Mulder? I'm Agent Lucef and I'm a medic. What's happened to her?' He asked in confusion after putting on the mask as he saw that her skin was abnormally pale and that her body structure was larger that it should be. Mulder shook his head and sighed.

'I… I think they did experiments on her. It increased her body strength. She's losing it though, she's losing her strength and that's what's killing her… this—' Mulder paused to try and gather himself, '----this whole place needs to be investigated!' Mulder shouted shakily to the other agents. Agent Danes came towards him and Mulder saw the Russian being taken away by other agents.

'Agent Mulder, we will investigate, this whole place will be cut off after we're out of here but our primary concern is getting everyone here out safely. So lets go… all right?' He said to Mulder and put a hand on his shoulder as he saw how distressed he was. Mulder winced suddenly in pain as he felt his broken arm suddenly throb at him angrily.

'You're injured?' Agent Lucef said, frowning with confusion. Mulder grimaced in pain and let out a small laugh.

'She broke my arm… I totally forgot… I didn't feel a thing until now…' Mulder said in a low voice, and Agent Lucef didn't answer him, he just took Mulder aside and another medic helped him. The medics helped Scully up onto the stretcher and Mulder got his arm treated quickly, it was wrapped up in a sling fast.

'Who sent you? How did you know we were here?' Mulder asked while walking alongside the stretcher and keeping firm hold of Scully's hand with his right arm. They started to exit the building together.

'Mr Skinner, FBI. I assume you know him?' Danes called from the front of the group of agents and opened a door. Mulder sighed a breath of relief.

'Yeah we know him.' He said calmly and looked down at Scully sadly. He saw her chest rise and fall in sharp movements and squeezed her hand to reassure her, if she could still feel him. They moved into the open air and the sharp cold breeze caught them by surprise. Mulder bared his face against the wind and walked onto the carrier plane with the other agents and was relieved to finally be safe again, and out of danger. He stayed by Scully's side as medics worked on her quickly.

'Let's hope that this extra strength she's got helps her stay alive. Even though its running out she's still quite a lot stronger than you or me.' Lucef said to Mulder patting him on the shoulder. 'I tell ya, on mortal standards she would be dead by now.' He said in disbelief and turned back to Scully in wonder at the insane experimentation. Mulder looked up at him with relieved eyes and held Scully's hand to his lips and kissed it in concern and hope. He closed his eyes and did something that he never did; taking Scully's influence… he prayed for her.


	9. Chapter 9

**Going Home**

As the plane neared the American embassy base Mulder looked out to see the doctors who were coming out of the building out of the window. They looked up to see the plane approach and Mulder admired their loyalty. Looking down to the surroundings he felt safer and more reassured however he just hoped that Scully would be all right.

'It's a code blue people she's crashing!' Lucef shouted suddenly and Mulder frowned in confusion to see the doctors rush towards Scully and him and one of them pulled him out of the way. The sound of the beeping of the life monitor made Mulder look up in a start and he looked down to Scully who was now moving violently in stroke like movements and was groaning in pain and frowning as if having a bad nightmare. Mulder opened his eyes wide with shock and gasped as he felt his worry for Scully take over him and he shouted out to the doctors.

'What's happening!' He shouted desperately over the confusion.

'Sir, we're going to land. You need to be seated and secure!' One of the Agent said to him and pulled him down next to him and fastened his seat belt. Mulder looked at him sadly and frowned with sorry.

'But… Scully…' Mulder said hopelessly. The Agent shook his head and sighed.

'Just let the doctors do their job.' He said softly and turned away from Mulder. The plane started to dip and the descent took place. Mulder frowned in concern and put a hand over his eyes in exasperation and annoyance and sighed deeply, picturing in his head the Russian government and their part in this. Mulder was sure that it had something to do with the government as it was basically a military base. Mulder thought back to the contact to who had told him about the case in the first place and thought about his apartment again and longed to be back there. But he couldn't help imagining that the whole case would be covered up. It had happened way too many times. Suddenly a thought occurred to him and he frowned in surprise and looked at Scully's body. He knew that the answer was inside her. She had idiolatic solution inside of her…

'EXCUSE ME!' Agent Lucef said as the place touched ground and the huge metal door unfolded onto the runway with a loud rumble. Four other agents grabbed Scully's stretcher and moved her out as quickly as possible. Mulder knew that he wanted to help but he also knew that he would be useless. This was one of the situations where he needed to sit back and let the doctors work, however he would need to get them to keep some of the solution for him so that Scully could study it when she was better. Mulder sat back in the plane and let the rush of agents leave the plane and then reached for his own seatbelt and unlatched it. He turned to see the rest of the Agents look to him and they joined him off the plane.

As he left the plane he walked across the runway and to the building, the cold air hitting him again with great fierceness. Mulder still didn't understand properly. This still needed to be investigated. He turned to one of the Agents in charge who wore various colours and medals on his suit.

'Excuse me. Will the site be investigated?' Mulder asked again, he needed to make sure. The chief looked at him with a serious expression and didn't answer but turned back to face the direction he was travelling. Mulder frowned with anger at the rude reaction and moved towards him more. 'Look Sir, I don't mean to sound rude I just need to know if there will be an investigation?' He said eagerly and the officer sighed and carried on walking. Mulder sensed that something wasn't right and looked around him again to see who else was there. However; to his shock and horror, there was hardly anyone. All of the agents who had been with him were now... gone.

Mulder suddenly stopped walking and felt as if time started to slow down and he felt as if he was the only person there. He frowned in confusion and slowly turned to see if the American agents were around him. Mulder puffed out long cold breaths which looked like smoke in the air and felt as if the world was spinning around him. He opened his eyes wide and looked back to the plane. As if he were seeing the plane for the first time, he felt his eyes blink slowly and to his horror… he saw the Agents lying on their backs and in unnatural positions and blood spilled from their clothes. Mulder took a huge gasp of shock and felt his heart skip a beat and then when he realised that this had been a disaster from the pick up, he turned to the man he had been asking but as he turned to found himself face to face with the barrel of a rifle which was aimed between his eyes.

Mulder gasped in horror and closed his eyes in surrender. He put up his hands in defence and shaking, he feel to his knees on the floor. He felt anger burn inside him but there was nothing he could do. He put his good hand behind his head and bit his lower lip in sadness and waited to die.

Suddenly from the right of him he heard footsteps and shouting and then massive gun fire. Mulder opened his eyes quickly to see a mass of men in protective clothing shooting and shouting at each other. He opened his mouth in shock and put his hand up in surrender and confusion. As explosions started to go off he found himself caught up in large amounts of smoke and he felt weak in the chest. Mulder coughed and spluttered and just as he remembered in panic that Scully was no where to be seen, he fell to the ground as his body gave into the intoxication of the smoke and other explosion went off, much nearer this time.

Mulder came round and blinked open his eyes slowly. He frowned in confusion as he remembered the guns going off in his ears and the explosions. He sighed and felt how heavy his chest was and started to cough. Mulder leant up and felt the covers fall from his bare chest. He leant over and coughed heavily and frowned in confusion as he slowly realised that he was in a bed and that the fighting had stopped. He was somewhere completely different.

Mulder slowly raised his eyes to his surroundings and blinked as the room swayed into focus and he shook his head slowly in disbelief as he finally realised where he was. Mulder recognised the room instantly and felt very much at home... he was in his bedroom in his apartment.

He threw off the covers and realised he was in his boxer shorts. Mulder felt his chest cease up again and leant over and rested his hand on the bedside table and leant over in heavy chesty coughs. _'What the hell happened?'_ Mulder thought to himself while leaning over. As he coughed he felt someone enter the room and he turned to see the feet of what looked like a woman. Mulder sighed and saw that she was wearing silk pyjamas and he frowned in surprise as to his amazement, he realised that it was Scully.

Mulder raised his eyes to where she stood at his bedroom door with a beautiful but tired expression on her face and with a slight smile of what looked like relief. Mulder opened his mouth with shock and relief as he realised that Scully was all right. He slowly got to his feet and Scully held a cup of coffee out to him and took a concerned step towards him. She reached out her arm and Mulder felt himself get ushered back into bed and he frowned in complete and utter amazement at her recovery and her concern for him. He felt as if he were in a dream as Scully's soft hair fell over her eyes and she put the coffee on the bedside table next to a glass of water that was there waiting for him. She moved to the bed and sat down by his side. She put a hand on his chest and picked up the glass of water. Mulder couldn't find the words to speak. Scully broke the silence for him as she looked into his confused eyes.

'How do you feel?' She asked softly and forced a small smile. Mulder opened his mouth to speak but he felt it get dry with air and he felt his chest tighten again. Scully's newly manicured nails tickled his chest unintentionally as she moved her hand towards his upper chest as if a gesture to calm his lungs. She frowned with concern and looked down at him with doctor's eyes. Mulder let out a small cough and Scully put an arm around his shoulders and pulled his pillow up to keep him upright and Mulder took the glass of water that she offered. He nodded and sighed heavily as he moved the glass to his lips and took a big swig. Scully noticed this and took hold of his wrist quickly.

'Mulder, don't drink too fast!' She said quickly and Mulder reacted by pulling the glass of water away. He looked at her with confused eyes and she seemed to collapse with worry. 'I know you're thirsty but you haven't had anything to drink like this for days, so don't force it down.' She said softly and then helped him sip the water.

When Mulder had had enough Scully took the glass from his hands and put it down on the bedside table. Mulder saw that her eyes were glistening with soft tears as she looked into his confused face. Scully bit her lower lip and stroked the side of Mulder's cheek. He felt safe at her touch.

'Mulder, I can only imagine how confused you must be feeling at this moment.' She said in a low voice which seemed to wobble with tears. Mulder closed his eyes and took a long deep breath. Scully took his hand and caressed it softly. Mulder opened his mouth to speak again but found that he couldn't. He looked at Scully with frustration and she blinked a tear away. 'Mulder… you've been slipping in and out of consciousness for nearly a whole week. I got out of hospital two days ago, I made a speedy recovery as I had extra strength. They managed to get all of the solution out of me slow enough to make sure that it wasn't critical. I can only recall what happened when we arrived at the American embassy… it's like a blur to me.' She said, her voice cracking and she lowered her head. Scully felt Mulder squeeze her hand and she sighed and raised her eyes to his again and carried on; 'You were outside when our back up came in and ambushed the Russian fleet. Somehow the Russians had taken control of the situation when we landed, and everyone except Agent Lucef and some others were killed. I was in critical condition at this point and they managed to keep me safe in the back room of the embassy and we hid there for a few hours until the fighting had stopped.' She said seriously.

Mulder frowned with surprise. 'Mulder, I owe them my life.' She said softly and shifted her weight on the bed and sighed. 'Anyway, after that the American agents got us out of there after finding you still alive. Lucef said that they were sure you were dead; however they didn't give up looking for you. You had fallen unconscious after major smoke inhalation which has severely damaged your lungs and poisoned your blood flow.' Scully said with concern and Mulder closed his eyes in amazement. Scully paused for a second and took his hand in the other hand too and held it close to her tenderly. Mulder looked back at her and she blinked another tear away.

'This is why you're finding it very difficult to breathe and speak. Your lungs have been damaged, but you'll be all right soon. You need a lot of rest and you need to take it easy. This can only heal itself.' She said softly and Mulder seemed to sigh in relief. She nodded and looked down at her dressing gown. 'I've been here since yesterday after noon to make sure I was here when you woke up. I've been resting too and I think I'm a lot better. I still can't believe myself at how quickly I recovered from two gun shots, however… that Idiolatic solution…' Scully gushed in amazement, 'Mulder I've managed to keep some of the solution and I'm going to get it analysed so we can find out just what this substance is made of.' She said to him and looked into his eyes. Mulder nodded in relief and she could see that he was happy they had kept some evidence. 'I know that what you'd like to hear is that the military base has been investigated but…' She said with difficulty and didn't meet Mulder's eyes, 'It was burned to the ground, leaving no traces.' Scully said in a low and disappointed voice and she squeezed Mulder's hand in sadness as if trying to apologise. She sighed heavily as she turned to see how disappointed he looked. Scully blinked a tear away from her eyes and then wiped them away and they stayed still for a moment in disappointment. Mulder shifted in the bed to break the silence and sighed and she felt him caress her arm affectionately. Scully looked at him and smiled a sleepy smile and looked at him with concerned eyes. She pulled his hand to her chin and then kissed it softly.

'At least we're still OK. I'm so glad you're all right Mulder.' She said tenderly and felt her heart well up inside of her. She moved over to the other side of the bed slowly and felt Mulder's eyes on her. Without feeling any discomfort, she slipped under the covers and lay down next to him. Mulder slowly turned to her and let out a controlled breath and he looked at her beautiful eyes and face. Mulder was processing everything she had told her, but at the moment he was just thankful that she was there with him. He felt a surge of emotion take over him as he was so happy that she was all right and still alive. He felt her take his arm and then cuddle up to it sleepily. Mulder enjoyed her warmth on his body and he closed his eyes as Scully rested her head by his shoulder and closed her eyes. They drifted off into a peaceful sleep of exhaustion.

Mulder awoke with a start as the alarm clock next to him went off loudly in his ear. He frowned and looked across at his bedside table and felt that his chest was going to explode. He grit his teeth and sat upright to try and get some air into his lungs and he put one hand on his chest which was now covered with a t-shirt. He frowned with confusion and looked across to see Scully turned away from him and faced the other side of the room with her head tucked up and she lay sleeping. Mulder let out a small smile at her sleeping figure and felt a twitch of cheekiness when he realised that she had put a t-shirt on him and undressed him. Mulder looked at the alarm clock and felt the air enter his lungs willingly. He tried to figure out what day of the week it was and why his alarm clock was going off at 1pm. Suddenly Scully jumped out of her sleep and moved violently taking most of the covers off Mulder. Mulder frowned in surprise and looked down at his boxer shorts while Scully looked up at him with surprise. Mulder saw how her hair was going all over her face and he let out a small laugh but it quickly turned into a cough. As he tapped the alarm clock off he frowned in pain as the coughing got worse. Scully quickly grabbed the glass of water on the bedside table as if on auto pilot and sat up next to Mulder and put a caring arm around his shoulder.

'You're awake!' She said in a bright voice and helped Mulder drink the water and he tried to force it down again. 'Slowly… Mulder!' She said with a motherly tone. She sighed in an almost angry way. 'All right that's enough for now.' She said taking the water away from Mulder quickly and Mulder frowned to see it go and let out few more hacking coughs. Scully's forceful tone turned sympathetic again and she rushed to move his pillows upright against the back of the bed and carefully helped him lay back down against them in a sitting position. Mulder sighed heavily and let out a last cough. Scully got out from underneath the covers and walked to the door.

'Scully?' Mulder asked in a rasping voice as she left the room without speaking. Mulder frowned in confusion and sighed heavily, feeling the air fill his lungs like cool soothing lotion. 'Scully?' He called again painfully from the room and Scully seemed to react this time and came rushing back with a frown on her face and a pointing finger.

'Mulder! There's no need to raise your voice like that it'll make it worse!' She said angrily then turned away from him and went back into the apartment. Mulder let out a small laugh of disbelief at Scully's motherly reaction to his actions. He put his head back and tried to relax, thankful of her caring nature for him. But something seemed a little serious about all of this. Scully seemed to be on autopilot and also she seemed to be very strict which was never a good sign.

After a few minutes Scully returned with a cup of coffee for her and what seemed to be tablets for him. She moved to her side of the bed again and put the hot coffee down. She then went over the Mulder's side and sat down on his bed. As if relaxing from her outburst of action, she closed her eyes for a moment and let out a deep sigh. When she opened her eyes again they seemed caring and concerned again and Mulder felt his heart ring out to her at that moment and he reached for her hand.

'Scully, what's happening?' He asked softly in a weak voice. Scully's face suddenly seemed to change completely into a sad expression and Mulder could swear that he could see tears stinging her eyes. He frowned in surprise at her reaction. 'What?' He asked. Scully lowered her head slightly.

'Mulder.. you've been ill for a lot longer than we anticipated.' She said slowly and Mulder looked at her confused.

'Who's we?'

'Me and your doctors.' She said quietly and raised her eyes to his again and Mulder saw her blink away a tear. He felt his heart soar with concern for her and adoration.

'Scully…' He started in a sad voice but she shook her head and continued.

'Mulder, you've been under my treatment and Doctor Fessen's for a long time.' She said with a difficult tone. Mulder's head turned in surprise to the door to see a man enter the room with concerned eyes and a kind face. However, Mulder found his unknown presence unnerving and Scully felt this.

Feeling pressure on his hand Scully moved a little further towards him and frowned with concern and worry. 'Mulder, it's all right he's been treating you since you came back from Russia.' She said softly and Mulder kept his eyes on the man who stood awkwardly at his door. 'He's a good doctor Mulder.' She said, trying to convince her friend that he was in safe hands. Mulder flinched as the doctor walked towards him slowly.

'Good afternoon Mr Mulder.' Fessen said in an embarrassing tone, obviously concerned with the awkward nature of his obvious intrusion in the friendship and trust shown between the two people in front of him. Fessen's head ran around in circles with medical solutions and ideas and he frowned with concern and worry. This man was in trouble and he didn't know how to say it, or let him have his trust. He looked at Dr Scully's expression which seemed apologetic and he turned to leave the room and went back into Mr Mulder's dark lounge and stood by the fish.

Scully sighed and left Mulder's apartment as quickly as she could to stop the tears flowing heavily in front of her friend. She threw her long black coat over her shoulders and tried to take her mind away from the memories of what had just occurred in Mulder's apartment. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she closed the door behind he and went out into the cold air and the familiar apartment corridor she knew so well. Leaving Mulder with Fessen was possibly the most cruel thing she could have done to him at that point after learning that he was more ill than he had ever imagined before, however she couldn't face seeing him and she believed that her presence there would have made him more concerned as she was close to shedding tears and confidence.

Scully sniffed away a heavy group of tears that fell across her cheeks and she felt her lips tremble with sadness as she imagined life without Mulder…

'No…' Scully said under her breath and fell over to clutch her stomach as she felt a huge surge of emotion hit her and she had to rest her arm on elevator door to stop her from falling. She closed her eyes and felt her head spinning as she realised that the thought and worry was driving her mad.

'Three weeks.' Scully whispered under her breath as she heard the sound of the elevator bell ring loudly in her ears.

Three weeks had been the time that Mulder had been in and out of consciousness. To him however, when he had just woken up he must have thought that he had only been asleep for one night. Scully remembered back to the day he had first woken up and what he had said to her, how confused he had been. She sighed heavily and walked into the open elevator slowly. She tried to keep calm but it was so hard. With one look at the buttons on the wall of the elevator she felt herself start to feel sick and to her horror she retched and felt tears fall from her eyes as she imagined life without Mulder and how it would affect her. The reality of this horrific situation was setting in dramatically…


	10. Chapter 10

**Faithful **

Walter Skinner stared at the piece of paper which lay on his desk with a blank expression of surprise and confusion. He had no idea what to think or what to do about what he had just read. He sighed and picked up the worn piece of writing paper again to read it once more and to try and form a plan of how he cold help and make things right. But Agent Scully's words didn't bring him any hope.

Skinner rubbed his brow with his right hand and looked down at the desk sleepily and agitated, he had been losing sleep over how this situation had arisen. He jut didn't understand it. It didn't make sense somehow. How could Mulder be dying of heat smoke inhalation three weeks after he inhaled it? And why couldn't the doctors do anything? What was the strangest point was that they hadn't found anything substantial which actually pointed directly to smoke inhalation. Skinner frowned in thought as he remembered Scully's troubled words in George Memorial hospital. 'Almost as if his chest has been robbed of its ability to breathe…' She had said, tears glistening in her deep blue eyes. Skinner had felt great guilt for her at that moment, he couldn't explain it but he always felt that Mulder and Scully's quest should have been his all this time. He felt responsible; although they had told him countless times that it was not his fault. That they had wanted to do this, that Mulder was so willing to find out the truth that…

Skinner let out a shout of anger at the thought of losing such an ambitious man as Mulder and such a good friend and agent. He slammed his palm down on the desk and over Scully's scrambled handwriting which clearly showed that her hand had been shaking. He stood up quickly and grabbed his coat. There was something else to this, there had to be. He strode quickly to his door and stormed out of the office ignoring his assistant's cries of confusion and slammed the door behind him. He was going to get some answers, and fast.

That evening, Scully found the confidence to go back for her turn to watch over Mulder for the night. She had slept next to him in his bed nearly every night she had been on duty. She couldn't explain why, but she felt it was an obligation. The kiss they had shared out in the cold of Russia and the danger of they had felt together had left her questioning if Mulder even remembered if it had ever happened. Scully longed for him to remember, but also dreaded the conversation that would arise from the memories. She had seen Mulder in a completely different light after that night, and although the kiss had been mainly a reaction to the cold and they had been forced to comfort each other, Scully knew that there had been a great connection made between them that night. Feeling more positive while thinking about this topic, she found herself at Mulder's door in minutes and was ready to go inside when she heard a cry from the car park outside. Scully frowned in confusion and wondered whether or not to go and see what had happened. She sighed and turned back to the keyhole and put her key inside quickly when she heard it again, a woman screaming for help and… 'A gun?' Scully gasped in shock as she heard gunfire from outside. She frowned with surprise and reached for her own gun underneath her long coat and put her hand on it. She turned from the flat quickly and unintentionally left her key in the hole. Scully took out her gun from the holster and ran in quick steps, her heels clicking against the wood of the floor smoothly as she ran for the elevator. She heard another scream and in shock and eagerness to save lives, she hit the elevator angrily with her left hand as it was not moving and ran for the stairs quickly. Scully held her gun with both hands and ran down the flights of steps until she reached the bottom and ran out into the cold night.

She looked around in concentration trying to find the disturbance and found that she couldn't see anyone. She kept her gun close to her head and clicked off the safety. Moving slowly and putting one step in front of the other carefully she gingerly made her way towards the sound of a dustbin being knocked over. Scully took a deep breath and ran out as quickly as she could towards the scene of the noises. She turned a corner and saw two men standing over a body of a girl who appeared to be injured. Feeling anger and rage burn inside her body she yelled throughout the dark night.

'FBI! HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!'

The two men looked at her and started to speed off in a fast run and Scully ran after them as quickly as she could. Suddenly, a shower of rain started to fall over her and the street became slippery.

'HEY! FREEZE!'

Trying to keep her balance and squinting her eyes in the heavy rain she found that she had lost the men and grabbed her mobile phone. She dialled the police and told them her situation as fast as she could. When she had done this she turned back to the young girl who lay on her back and was clutching her stomach and was taking heavy breaths. Scully bent down and looked at the young girl sympathetically as she looked at her with wide and terrified eyes.

'It's all right; I'm here to help you. Let me see your injury.' Scully shouted over the heavy rain. The girl started to shiver nervously and Scully saw the blood start to spill heavier. She felt her heart beat faster with panic. 'Please, let me see. I can help you I'm a doctor!' She said with a forceful yet reassuring voice. The girl seemed to understand and she slowly pulled her arms away from her stomach revealing a clean gun shot wound. Scully sighed heavily in disgust at the men. She saw that the bullet was not fatal, but the girl needed a hospital. 'Ok, you'll be all right. My name's Dana, what's yours?' She said softly and tried to comfort the girl by taking her hand and holding it. It was freezing. The girl's face suddenly changed from fear to confusion as she stared at Scully with puzzled eyes. Scully frowned with confusion at her reaction.

'What is it?' She asked.

'Your… your name… Dana…' She said with difficulty. Scully frowned and nodded, unsure of what was going on. The girl closed her eyes for a second and Scully panicked.

'No, no stay with me! Look at me!' She shouted over the heavy rain and the girl seemed to come back to her and looked into her eyes. Scully felt that something was really wrong here. 'What is it?' She asked, starting to feel fear herself.

'They… they were looking for… you and… they were…' The girl said with great difficulty. Scully's vision swayed with confusion. The ambulance sirens started coming nearer.

'Who?' Scully pressed.

'Those men… they must have thought I was you. They're looking… for your… friend…' The girl gasped painfully. Scully felt her heart skip a beat in fear as it registered what the girl was saying. Scully gripped her hand and felt hot tears cling onto her throat.

'Mulder? They're looking for Mulder?' Scully pleaded. The girl took deep breaths and then looked back at Scully.

'Is that… his name?' She said weakly. Scully had had enough with questions. She stood up quickly and watched as the ambulance pulled into the drive and came towards them.

That was when she suddenly realised while looking into the bright headlights of the ambulance… she'd left the key in the door…

'AGENT SCULLY!' Shouted Skinner from across the car park. Scully turned with tear stained cheeks as she felt as if she was going to collapse in the rain and never wake up again. He came running towards her and took her arm quickly. 'Come on! They're after Mulder! They always were!' He shouted to her and pulled her away from the ambulance.

'They… they were?' Scully said between confused breaths. '…Sir?' She asked in complete surprise at seeing him at that very moment. Scully found her footing and picked up speed by his side quickly. She noticed that he was frowning with determination and anger, but he didn't know what she had done, what had happened…

'Sir I've… I've done something awful… I led them right to him!' Scully said between breaths as they made their way up the stairs quickly, Skinner pulling her along by the arm with great force. Scully didn't seem to realise however and couldn't stop thinking… _'I've killed Mulder… I left the key in the door…' _

'Come on Agent we need to get moving now!' Skinner shouted, obviously thinking that she was in shock. Scully shook her head and felt her arm being pulled strongly but she couldn't really feel it. She felt the tears come out of her as she felt as if she were in a dream as the world seemed to be spinning around her.

After flights of stairs, they seemed to be on the landing and in Mulder's corridor. Skinner turned back to Scully with confusion as he saw her fall to the floor and push herself up against the wall and curl herself up. Skinner turned from her quickly, leaving her behind and hearing her sob heavily. He shook his head in disbelief as he didn't know why she was in such a state but they had to…

'Oh my god…' Skinner's mouth opened wide in shock as he edged towards Mulder's door. He stopped dead in his tracks and heard Scully's heavy sobs fill his ears. He stared at the open door ahead of him and frowned in shock. Urging himself to move further forward he made his way to the doorway and held up his gun, ready to fire. He pointed it inside as he quickly slipped in and then made his way through the seemingly deserted apartment.

'AGENT?' He shouted out inside the apartment, his voice wavering with fear and worry that Mulder had gone. There was silence. Skinner made his way towards the bedroom. 'MULDER?' He shouted out again and frowned in confusion as very faintly, he heard a groan from the bedroom. Skinner turned quickly and pointed his gun towards the door and made his way swiftly towards it. He took one deep breath and put his hand on the handle. After counting to three he burst open the door and went into Mulder's bedroom and gasped at what he saw in front of him.

Mulder's bed had been obviously been messed up and there was a sign of struggle.

'Mulder?'

Skinner heard the faint murmur again and he realised that no one was about. He quickly went to the other side of the bed and as he came round the side he saw Mulder, lying on his back and obviously recovering from a heavy blow to the head. Skinner breathed a great sigh of relief and bent down to help Mulder up. He felt his chest tighten with fear as he noticed that Mulder was still very weak and that he was finding it hard to breathe. But he was still alive.

'Agent Mulder, it's me. It's Skinner.' He asked forcefully and helped Mulder up onto the bed. Mulder frowned in obvious pain and took quick deep breaths. Skinner saw that his head was bleeding.

'Sir?' Mulder murmured weakly as he opened his eyes slightly to see Skinner standing over him. Skinner nodded and turned to the rest of the apartment. 'Scu… Scully…' Mulder rasped and seemed to be calling for her. Skinner frowned with concern and went out to get her. To his surprise she was standing next to the door with a hand covering the side of her face and she was shaking.

'Dana?' He asked in a sympathetic voice as she neared her. Shaking violently, Scully whimpered and turned away from him and let out a sob. 'Agent Scully… what's all of this about Agent Mulder is all right.' Skinner said taking hold of her arms and holding her still. She didn't seem to hear. 'Scully! Listen to me! Mulder's alive!' He shouted at her.

Scully heard the words and they hit her like a blow to the head. She gasped and looked up at Skinner with disbelief. Skinner let out a small smile. 'Don't be so negative. I know this is a hard time, but he's all right.' He said in a softer tone, glad that she was starting to act saner. Scully seemed to be falling apart with the threat of losing Mulder. Skinner admired their partnership with great adoration and watched as Scully wiped a tear away from her eye and turned quickly, advancing into the apartment and towards the bedroom.

She quickened her pace as she walked through the door and she let out a cry of relief to see Mulder lying on the bed. Scully ran towards him and grabbed his hand and kissed it happily. She started to cry again and Mulder frowned in great emotion and relief that she was by her side again.

'Oh my god Mulder!' She gushed. Mulder looked up at her weakly and with confusion. She put a hand to her mouth and swallowed a sob sadly.

'What.. what happened?' Mulder asked in a daze. Scully bit her lip and shook her head forcing the tears to go away and for her to remain strong.

'I… I thought that you were… and it was all my fault…' She managed but then looked into his eyes and saw they were full of confusion and fear. She felt a pang of guilt hit her like a ton of bricks and she sighed heavily and stroked his hand calmly and to her amazement she managed a confident smile.

'I thought you were calling for me. I think I'm hearing things these days. I'm sorry Mulder.' She said forcefully, but she could see that he was still confused. She knew that he could sense that something was wrong, but she couldn't let him know that. Scully took her hand away from his and moved away from the bed slowly much to Mulder's surprise. She met eyes with Skinner who leant against the door frame with crossed arms and seemed to hold a face of sorrow and sympathy. Unable to know what to say to him, Scully walked straight past him and into Mulder's bathroom where she could get some alone time and she splashed water over her tear stained face and tried to gather herself, the ambulance sirens were still raging outside.

She turned away from the sink and moved over to the window in the bathroom which was open and the wind blew her long jacket about. She reached to close the window and felt the icy wind grasp her in surprise. With a little gasp and pulled the window shut with a bang and locked it.

Scully furiously rummaged through her files which lay on her desk at home and she pushed on her glasses which she very rarely used nowadays. She didn't have time to find her contact lenses. She needed to help Mulder, she needed to find out more about Russia and exactly what had happened. Something was seriously wrong here.

While pushing away the piles of loose paper quickly, Scully felt her head ring with a headache and she frowned in confusion trying to push it all away. She needed to focus. Mulder was dying.

Banging her fist on the desk and shouting out in frustration Scully pushed herself away from the desk and walked over to her sofa and to her coffee table where she had put together what she could find about Russia. She couldn't understand it herself, not that this was a rare occurrence in her work, many things were left unexplained… however her science didn't even prove anything this time. Scully frowned and checked her watch. 9:50pm. She sighed heavily and ran a hand through her dishevelled hair. It had felt like the whole evening had been going on for much longer than that. Scully glanced down to her left to something which caught her eye. It looked like an explanation of an officer who had not been found at the crime scene. She saw the words 'Rogue' and 'Sergeant'… but suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by the phone ringing.

Scully gasped in fear as she heard the phone seem to explode in a horrifically loud ringing in her right ear. She sighed heavily and moved her hand over to the phone to her right and picked up the receiver.

'Hello?' She asked sleepily.

'Agent Scully? This is Dr Snow from the forensics lab and George Memorial?' The lady scientist said in a strong tone. Scully suddenly appeared very awake and she sat up straight.

'Yes? Have you got my results?'

'Yes, and I don't think that you're going to believe them.' She said uneasily. Scully let out a small smile of disbelief.

'Try me.'

'Well, the idiolatic solution- or that is what you said it was… well we've named it this anyway, it's a completely new substance, mainly made out of nuclear components used in the nuclear missiles. It is full of radioactive materials including…'

'Is it unknown? Deadly?' Scully pressed on eagerly, reaching for a pen and smoothing out a piece of newspaper.

'Well… as I was going to say, this appears to be a hormone advancing solution… however, some of the chemicals in it…' The scientist paused for a second and Scully frowned in confusion at the silence.

'Yes?' She asked.

'Well, some of the chemicals in it are… completely unrecognisable. We've never seen anything like it _on this planet.'_ Dr Snow said in a low voice. Scully let out a small laugh and shook her head in disbelief but also in great reassurance. It was what she had been thinking- and fearing all along.

'Thank you Dr Snow, I'll be by tomorrow morning to pick up the results.' Scully said with new growing confidence and she heard a silence on the other end of the phone. 'Dr Snow?'

'Aren't…. aren't you a little surprised?' Dr Snow asked in an incredulous tone. Scully tried to fake some surprise as she realised she was sounding suspicious. Normal scientists would have shouted in response down the phone to news like this.

'Yes, oh yes of course.' Scully urged very unconvincingly.

Dr Snow uttered a small 'Hmmm', and then put down the phone. Scully sighed and looked at the phone in her hands for a second, trying to link what she had just heard to everything that was happening. She frowned in thought and realised that her body was shaking slightly. Scully didn't know if it was in shock or excitement, but her eyes turned back to the paper which she had been looking at before, and once again she read 'Rogue' and 'Sergeant' and then her eyes moved slowly but cautiously onto, 'Murderer…'

Suddenly, her door swung open with a mighty crash and the lights died out.

Scully gasped in horror and leant in response to where her gun was on the floor. She vaguely remembered for a second that she had thrown it off in a hurry as she had entered the room. She stretched out her right arm and felt her hands touch the cold metal of the barrel. She could hear someone stepping into the house and she felt her heart race fiercely with fear and her eyes opened wide with fear. Scully grabbed for the gun and slipped it onto her grasp and silently, she made her move to hide underneath her large coffee table. She pointed her gun out and watched in fear as she saw a pair of male legs move into her house and rudely knock over a pile of books carelessly. Scully frowned in anger and gritted her teeth, ready to attack at any moment. She wondered whether she should shoot at his legs.

'Miss Scully… I know you're in here.' The man's voice leered. Scully's stomach turned at the voice. He was Russian. 'I have information for you on how to save your friend.' He said in a low voice. Scully felt her heart clench in her chest. Paralysed with fear and wonder about what to do next, she took a deep breath and shot out at the man's legs and the bullet hit his ankles and crippled him. She heard a gun blast off into the wall of her house as the man fired wildly in surprise as he fell. Scully grunted as she forced her body out from underneath the table, turning over as she got out. She stood up quickly and with skill and pointed her gun down to the man who lay on his back and caught her eye. Scully saw that he was smiling and she clicked another bullet into place angrily and pointed at his head.

'I'm listening you son of a bitch.' She said angrily through gritted teeth. The man seemed to laugh at her manner but grimaced in pain as his blood poured onto Scully's floor. She looked down at it in disgust for a moment.

'You're a feisty one Agent Scully, I'm surprised…' He said through a painful smile. Scully snarled in anger and kicked him in the foot to make the pain worse. He shouted out in agony and Scully took this as an advantage to shut him up and turned him over roughly. She felt her chest grow with anger again as she heard him laugh. 'What are you doing sexy?' He asked in his thick accent which made him sound incredibly sleazy. Scully felt tears sting her eyes as she suddenly had a flash back of what had happened to her at the military base. She paused for a second in shock. She had completely forgotten about that moment, like she had erased the horror from her mind. The man underneath her scrambled around and she suddenly turned back to him, determined to take control. Scully let out a small shout of rage and grabbed the man's hands and pulled them up to handcuff them, which she had luckily grabbed in her rise to her feet. She clicked them over his wrists and frowned in concentration as she kicked him hard in the side, the tip of her boots ramming into his ribs, and felt the anger escape her willingly.

'Tell me the truth to why you're here!' She shouted and kicked him over so he lay on his back. He was still smiling in a slick manner. Scully felt the rage so strongly she was finding it hard not to shoot him as he lay there.

'I'm here, because I wanted to help your friend.'

'That's a load of crap and we both know it.' Scully shouted angrily and walked round to her door, slamming it shut and locking it. 'Now get up.' She said in a low and shaky voice. The Russian didn't move. 'I SAID GET UP!' She shouted in a big voice and the man lost his smile and glared angrily at her as he slowly got up, grunting in pain. Scully kept her gun pointed at his head and tried to keep her cool. 'Now walk over to that chair.' She said angrily, motioning for him to move to her dining area and sit down. He slowly moved towards the chairs and sat down angrily, glaring at her as he moved. 'Never had a woman tell you what to do before?' She leered, but was angry with herself for letting her emotions shown. The man let out a small laugh and shook his head.

'Well haven't you got me just right?'

'Shut up!' She shouted and moved over to the kitchen top where she grabbed a knife. The Russian seemed to flinch at the sight of it and Scully nodded. 'Feeling a little more nervous of a little woman now are we?' She raged. The Russian didn't answer and struggled with his handcuffs. 'Don't even think about getting up.' She said and moved to the chair and re clasped the handcuffs around his back and to the chair so that he couldn't move. Scully reached for the phone and dialled quickly, keeping her eye on him. She waited for Skinner to answer.

'Sir? I need you to get over here right away. And bring Mulder with you.' Scully said forcefully as the Russian leered at her with that smile again. She bit her tongue to stop herself from screaming…

'What?' Skinner asked in complete surprise. 'Bring Mulder? Dana he's not well enough for that.'

Skinner heard Scully's answer and suddenly his attitude changed to concern. 'Are you all right? Who the hell is this man?'

'That doesn't matter now.' Scully said down the line in a shaky voice. 'Just come quickly.' She said, and then put down the phone. Skinner frowned in thought and looked towards Mulder's bedroom door. He slowly made his way to it and knocked.

'Come in…' Mulder said weakly and Skinner walked in to see Mulder lying on his bed resting. Skinner sighed.

'Agent Mulder, we're going to have to take a trip.' He said in a low voice. Mulder looked at him in surprise and coughed heavily.

'What?' He rasped. Skinner shifted uneasily on his feet.

'I'm sorry, but we've got to go to Scully. We don't have very much time.' He said keeping his head low and moving towards Mulder. Mulder frowned in surprise and looked at Skinner's troubled face.

'What's going on? Why Scully?' Mulder asked in obvious concern and worry. Skinner sighed and didn't answer but left the room slowly. 'HEY! What's happened to Scully?' Mulder shouted breathlessly as Skinner turned and went into the lounge.

'It was you, wasn't it?' Scully said, now trembling and holding her head in her hands. She couldn't believe this, she had finally remembered.

It had been very dark and dismal in the cold room she was captured in. The man had come in… he had been touching her inappropriately. Scully could remember his scent and his smell. It disgusted her and she tried to force him off. She was falling in and out of consciousness and she felt pain all over her, everywhere.

Scully suddenly realised that a tear was falling down her cheek. She sniffed it away and turned back to the Russian with great rage. He sat quietly, with a satisfied look on his face, half shadowed by the light. She felt her chest tighten at the look of his eyes, and she felt another flashback. Scully gasped in horror as she remembered looking into his eyes, or he was looking into hers. She couldn't remember… but he was glaring at her and he was smiling… the same smile as before. Scully flinched and quickly stood up and pulled her gun to his face. The Russian let out a laugh again and tears blinded her vision. She couldn't control herself.

'Why?' She asked in a tearful voice. 'Why did you do that to me?' She said, trembling heavily. He didn't answer but just shrugged.

'You won't kill me because I know how to save your friend.' He said in a slimy voice. Scully shook her head.

'You came here to kill me.' She said. He shrugged again and shifted in his seat.

'How do you know?'

'I KNOW!' Scully shouted with fury and glared at him. She sighed heavily and thought back to Mulder and how little time he had left. She let her lip tremble and the tears got heavier, but she forced herself not to let it show. 'How can you save Mulder?' She asked in a sad voice. He didn't answer and it was her turn to let out a small laugh of disbelief. 'Why did I even ask. Am I going to have to torture it out of you?' She raged, standing before him and pushing the barrel of her gun to his forehead. He flinched but still remained calm.

'I like torture.' He said, his dark and terrifying eyes glaring into hers. Scully almost was sick and she moved away from him quickly. There was a knock on the door and she ran to it thankfully. She slowly opened it to find Skinner looking at her with concern with Mulder by his side, breathing heavily and weakly. Scully frowned with concern and felt her anger turn to sadness as she saw Mulder's pale face and she opened the door all the way quickly and grabbed Mulder before he fell. Skinner entered quickly and walked towards the kitchen to see the Russian. Scully heard the sound of Skinner kicking him fiercely as she moved Mulder to the sofa and lay him down quickly. Scully took his hand and knelt by his side.

'Mulder?' She asked in a soft and sad voice. He responded weakly by clenching her hand and looking at her.

'Scu… Scully… are you ok?' He rasped, and Scully nodded tearfully. She went to her medicine cabinet quickly and got out her stash of Mulder's. She reached for the phone to call Dr Fessen. Mulder shifted in pain and groaned as Scully dialled. She reached for his hand again and he seemed to calm down.

Skinner entered the lounge as Scully started to dial the phone, his hands stained with blood from forcing information out of the Russian. He waited until Scully was finished and then spoke.

'His name's Vladimir.' Skinner said in a low voice. Scully moved away from the phone and neared Skinner and looked at his blooded hands with a frown.

'What did you do?'

'It's not as bad as it looks, that man wasn't going to talk unless we did something.' He said forcefully. Skinner looked down at Mulder.

'Ah…' Scully said uneasily and moved away from Mulder so that he couldn't hear what she was about to say. 'I've asked for Dr Fessen to come over and help me, I'm worried about his condition at the moment he's getting weaker.' Scully said as strongly as she could. Skinner nodded and looked at her reassuringly.

'I'm going to get this information out of him, don't you worry.' Skinner said and Scully nodded. She watched Skinner turn and walk towards the kitchen and as he turned she caught the eye of Vladimir. Scully felt a chill run down her spine as he glared at her seething. 'Sir?' Scully called out on impulse and Skinner turned and walked back to her. He looked at her questioningly and Scully shifted nervously on her feet, knowing that she had to tell him but also feeling so uncomfortable. She stood there for a moment.

'Scully?' He asked in confusion. Scully sighed and put a hand to her forehead.

'This man… he was there in Russia and I believe that…' She said with difficulty as she saw Skinner's look on his face. 'I believe that it was him, Sir that… that attacked me.' She said slowly and felt herself blush a little. Skinner's face turned to a sour expression and his face started to get red with anger. Scully watched him uneasily and he didn't answer for a moment.

'You're saying, that this man was the one who raped you?' Skinner said finally, and Scully flinched at the words.

'Please, I've been trying to forget what happened to me, I've been blocking it out of my system and out of Mulder's. I don't want Mulder to know Sir, he… he would react uncontrollably and at this moment it is definitely not what he needs to be hearing right now…' Scully's speech started to quicken and she felt tears coat her throat and her face start to droop with threatening tears. She shifted on her feet and rested her arm on a chair next to her and looked down to the floor. Skinner sighed. 'Mulder can't know. He'll go mad and do something stupid. Please, let's just find out a way to cure Mulder.' Scully said simply and as calmly as possible. Skinner nodded and put a hand on her arm with concern.

'We'll punish him for what he's done. You don't have to talk to him if you don't want to.' He said in a soft voice, and Scully raised her eyes to his and let out a small smile as a worried tear escaped her eye. She blinked and felt her admiration for Skinner flow through her. He turned and walked towards the kitchen, and Scully flinched as he shut the door loudly. She knew that he wasn't going to take this information lightly.

After about two hours of constant interrogation, Skinner came out of the kitchen and Scully looked up in surprise as the door opened as she was drifting into a sleep on the other side of the lounge on her sofa and faced a sleepy Mulder. She blinked as the light which Skinner turned on and it made her flinch a little. She yawned and got up into a sitting position and looked over to Mulder who was frowning at the bright lights. She moved over to him and reassured him that everything was all right. She looked to Skinner and saw that his face looked serious and his expression was tough. Scully saw the seriousness in his eyes and stood up and walked towards him slowly. She sighed heavily and walked with Skinner to the other side of the room and spoke in hushed voices. Skinner took a deep breath and then opened his mouth to speak.

'Scully… you're not going to believe what this man has told me. It took a long time to get it out of him, and I had to use great force.' He spoke in a sympathetic voice. Scully frowned with worry and sympathy as she saw Skinner's tired eyes and she took a deep breath.

'What is it?' She asked in great fear, dreading the worst for Mulder.

'Mulder isn't just suffering from smoke inhalation; he's suffering from something that was actually IN the smoke.' Skinner emphasised and Scully frowned in thought.

'What?'

'Scully… it's the another substance which is very similar to the substance that was in the cigarettes before. Do you remember?' Skinner said in a low and sympathetic voice as he worried about Scully's reaction. 'Now Mulder's already fought that once I don't think that…' Skinner started with difficulty.

She didn't answer for a moment but looked like she was about to hit something. Her cheeks flared red and she started to get flustered. She turned away from Skinner and leant against a sideboard and took a deep breath to try and composed herself.

'Scully?' Skinner asked from behind her, but she put up a hand to stop him speaking and walked away from him and towards Mulder. Skinner sighed in defeat and realised that he couldn't do anything to help her. He turned and went to the other side of the room and watched as Scully took Mulder's hand and seemed to be fighting back tears as she gently stroked his forehead.

Mulder wheezed heavily in his sleep. Scully sat beside him her hands pulled up to her face and she clasped them together in fear and worry. She sat with tear glistened eyes and occasionally prayed for him as Skinner continued to interrogate Vladimir next door.

After about another hour, Scully took a deep breath and went to her desk to try and figure out a way to help Mulder medically, like she had before. She grabbed some paper and sat down to write when Skinner came into the lounge again.

'Dana, he's told me.' Skinner said suddenly in a grave voice. Scully felt her heart leap in her chest and she looked up at him suddenly and he came closer.

'What?' She asked in barely a whisper. Skinner put his hands on her desk and leant towards her.

'There's a way to get rid of this virus… to cure Mulder.' Skinner said simply. Scully blinked back nervous tears.

'Ye…yes?' She stuttered nervously. Skinner took a deep breath to start his next sentence, choosing his words carefully.

'There's a vaccine, in the hands of a man in Brazil…'

'Brazil! That's too far Mulder's not going to last long enough for me to get to…' Scully shouted out and Skinner held up a hand for her to stop and raised his voice.

'DANA will you let me finish!' He said forcefully. 'Now listen. The idiolatic solution is _alien._ Vladimir and his men were trying to create a monster race out of radiation materials and extra terrestrial DNA, which could transform a human completely.' Skinner paused to see Scully falter and gasp in shock and disbelief.

'But… but why?' She asked incredulously.

'Vladimir said that it was an act of science and that was it. Also, they were getting paid big bucks for it.' Skinner said with a snarl, furious at people who chose wealth over human nature. He had encountered quite a few of them in his lifetime. Skinner sighed and looked back at Scully who looked across the room at Mulder silently.

'This disease that Mulder has is a lot slower than what he had before. Vladimir claims that this substance was released in the air when the area was ambushed, because they didn't want to get captured and were forced to unleash this new weapon, which- by the way; would have been used later on against the general public- to kill all of the officers who were against them.' He continued. 'Vladimir was the only survivor of the ambush, and he says that when they realised they were under attack, they didn't have time to act with weapons, so they used their new weapon because it was the most accessible at the time. This is how Mulder was infected.'

'But…' Scully said, regaining more focus now, 'surely the other men who were in the fight… they must be dying too.' Scully said, frowning in thought. Skinner sighed and looked down to the desk solemnly.

'FBI agents and US militia. 50 in total.' Skinner said in a low voice. Scully looked at him waiting for the rest of the information and frowned in confusion. '48 are dead already, most from over exposure at the site-' Skinner went on difficultly while Scully grimaced in disgust, '-and the others over time. Just like Mulder's dying now.'

There was a long silence between the two skilled agents as they processed their thoughts and tried to think about what to say next. Scully was the first to respond and she stood up with determination.

'Sir, tell me about this man.' She said, her tears now turning to emotional ones as she felt her determination to save Mulder alight through her like a fire. Skinner nodded.

'Vladimir has given me an address and a location. This man is the only one who can save Mulder. Nothing that we did before can help him. This disease has been stolen, studied and has therefore advanced under scientific research Scully. I'm going to have to send a team over with you to find the man and arrest him. You're not going alone, it's too risky.' Skinner said with a serious look and Scully nodded in agreement.

'What do we do with Vladimir?' She asked, her eyes turning to the kitchen with rage. Skinner obviously felt the anger in her voice.

'I'll take him to the police, get him locked up. He told me a way to keep Mulder comfortable and to may be slow down the increase of disease. I've booked you a plane to Sao Paulo- it'll take you about five hours to get there. You get ready to go, get a good night's sleep-'

'-No.' Scully cut in loudly and firmly, and Skinner looked at her in surprise. 'I'm not wasting any time. We go tonight, or we don't go at all.' She said, and turned from Skinner before he could refuse.

She went quickly into her bedroom and was again haunted by the sound of Mulder's wheezing which seemed to be filling her brain and making her paranoid with fear for him as the sound went round and round her head and made her dizzy. Closing her tearful eyes and taking a deep breath, she turned away from the bed and went to her cupboard to grab her rucksack and cool clothing. She stretched out her right arm and realised it was trembling as she took down a shirt from the shelf…


	11. Chapter 11

**Agent Baines**

Scully looked out of her window and saw the streetlamps shining bright in the misty sky. Light rain started to fall and glisten in the moonlight and she saw a group of leaves blow across the street to the side walk on the other side as a breeze shifted through her open window and pushed the bottom of her black shirt where it flapped after the buttons up so that her lower stomach was exposed for a few seconds. Scully felt the wind touch her skin and she shivered suddenly and went to close the window as a car sped past spurting up rainwater from the road.

She hadn't watched as Skinner had taken Vladimir away from her house half an hour ago, she didn't want to see that man ever again. She had helped Skinner to ease Mulder's pain with what Vladimir had told them, and had hopefully made his breathing softer for him.

Scully couldn't believe that she had forced the horrific memory out of her head for so long and sighed heavily as she closed her eyes in sadness as she remembered the force of him on her. Scully felt herself fall to her bed and she sat down on the edge of it with ease and hung her head to one side in despair as she sniffed a tear away and felt her face tighten with tears which were ready to come out of her at any moment. She felt them break through in annoyance and she let out a small sob and threw her hands to her face to hide it. Scully felt her whole body shake in sadness as she let out sobs which sounded heart wrenching as she remembered her ordeal properly for the first time and also felt her fear and love for Mulder break her heart into a million pieces.

Scully's thoughts then rushed to the night which she had also forgotten for a while, when they had been alone in the forest in Russia and they had shared a passionate kiss. Scully's tears started to dry out as she felt her heart warm with love as she remembered the moment clearly with happiness. But the thought of losing Mulder came crashing back too fast and she felt her slight smile turn to a bitter frown and she was lost in another sob.

After a few minutes of desperate despair, Scully looked up in shock as she heard a sound of a footstep in front of her and the door creaking. She expected Vladimir, or Skinner, or even another murderer who was ready to finish off this awful time of her life, but she gasped in concern and shock as she saw Mulder standing in the door way, looking at her weakly but with eyes of great compassion and concern.

Seeing him standing up made Scully rush towards him in worry and take him into her arms embedding her face in his weak chest. Mulder gratefully embraced her slowly and took a deep breath, and Scully was pleased to hear that it was much less chesty. Scully pulled away from him after a few moments and led him carefully to the bed and sat him down. Mulder seemed relieved for her help and took a few deep breaths. Scully frowned with concern and checked his temperature and pulse quickly. Mulder let her do it as he knew that he wouldn't be able to persuade her not to. He let out a small smile as he smelt her hair and caught a waft of her fruity shampoo. He sighed and took her hand quickly and firmly. Scully gasped in shock and looked at him in surprise and then stopped checking on him as she met his firm gaze from his imploring eyes.

Scully felt her heart race with excitement as Mulder locked her into his dreamy gaze. Scully couldn't look away from him, it was impossible. She felt her temperature rise and she swallowed nervously as Mulder seemed to look right into her, into her soul and deeper…

'Mulder… what is it?' She asked in a whisper. Mulder continued to stare into her eyes with great compassion and slowly he pulled her closer to him. Scully frowned in emotion as she fell into his arms and then she put an arm around him and pulled his body into her embrace and cradled him lovingly. Mulder felt very weak in her arms, but she felt a passion from him which was so strong.

'Mulder, I'm going to go to Brazil to find a way to cure you.' She said quietly and softly and stroked his hair. 'I promise I'll find a cure. I promise you Mulder.' She said, her voice wavering with emotion and sadness. Scully bit her lower lip and kissed Mulder's hair and he looked up at her weakly.

'Brazil?' He asked in a confused manner. Scully nodded. 'Scully…' He said in a weak voice. 'I walked… I walked to your room…'

'Yes!' Scully said, bursting into relieved laughter. 'You did, and you're going to be all right.' She said softly and felt her lip tremble with tears.

'Scully… please don't cry all the time.' Mulder said softly and Scully was caught off guard. She frowned in confusion as she didn't realise that he had noticed it.

'What?' She asked.

'You were… you were crying when I came in. Don't cry.' Mulder said weakly and raised a hand to stoke her cheek. 'I don't want you to cry and be unhappy just over stupid old me.' He said with a smirk and Scully let out a laugh of relief and annoyance as she felt his normal and adorable sense of humour shine through even when he was so weak. She quickly lowered her head as her mind filled with fear of not being able to find the cure, and not hearing Mulder speak like this again…

'Scully…' Mulder said, now he had moved to her side and was putting an arm around her. Scully blinked as she realised she hadn't noticed he had moved. 'Scully… come on.' He said softly and kissed her hair. Scully gasped as she felt his passion for her run through her like an electric surge and she took a deep breath and let herself fall into his chest.

Mulder pulled his arms around her and felt Scully's deep breaths. He sighed with sadness for her and felt her weight on his chest make his breathing a little uneasy, but it wasn't much weight. She was so small and beautiful, she was so precious and she clearly cared about him so much. Mulder was overwhelmed by her commitment and love for him. He closed his eyes and held her for a few moments.

After a few minutes Scully raised her head and looked into his eyes.

'Are you ok?' She asked him with concern.

'I'm all right.' Mulder said softly and took another deep breath to try and fill his lungs. Scully frowned in concern and put a hand on his cheek. She gazed into his eyes and felt her body warm up with love and passion and suddenly she felt the urge to kiss him again, knowing that this may be the last chance.

'I may never see you again after tonight.' She gushed and blinked a tear away, her voice wavering with emotion and changing pitch. Mulder let out a sigh and shook his head.

'Don't say that… I'll see you-' He said slowly, but he was cut short by Scully pulling him into a kiss, soft and loving, considering Mulder's condition. They felt each others bodies fit into each other and felt their passion and love for one another spark between them blissfully.

After a while they pulled away from each other and embraced again. Mulder frowned with emotion as he held her tightly and wished away her worries for him. As the clock in the lounge announced it was nine o'clock, Mulder sighed and felt the words arise inside of him like an uncontrollable surge. Scully was looking right at him, with her beautiful eyes.

'Mulder--I'm so scared…' she started, but her tears caught her half way and she lowered her head. Mulder kissed her on the forehead as he felt concern well inside him and held her close. He lifted her head to look at him again and this him he pulled her into another kiss, passionate and gentle and he felt Scully's hands caress his back and his strong arms. He lifted a weak arm to her hair and brushed it back from her face as he kissed her harder and with all the strength he had. They kissed for a while and then pulled away gently for air. Mulder took a deep breath and Scully rested her forehead on his. She sighed with emotion and caressed his back softly and he felt his body tingle. Mulder then had a thought, he couldn't stop it anymore, and he didn't care what happened when he said it. He just knew that he had to, that it was right.

'Scully-' He said tenderly into her ear in a whisper.

'Yes?' Scully asked in an emotional whisper.

Mulder hesitated for a second as she took a breath, then carried on.

'--I love you…'

The airport was bustling with loud families and vast numbers of people. The announcements overhead echoed over the vast space and made an older man get up from his seat in surprise and run towards a gate.

Agent Scully's eyes crossed the pedestrian airport and she saw the scene of a normal life in front of her, with a family and friends, in not immediate danger. She felt a longing for that life as she saw a young boy run across the airport to the right of her, but then her thoughts stopped dead about what she was going to do, she was going to save her friends life, and that was it.

Scully's thoughts had been clouded with Mulder's words for a few hours now. After he had told her that he loved her she had smiled and stood up and left, confused at what to say. His eyes had been so sincere and loving, everything had been perfect, but she didn't know quite how to handle it right now and carried on walking towards the private air hangar with the other team.

One of the Agents who had come along to help was Agent Baines, a young woman from Ohio originally and a new member of the Military, but very bright and enthusiastic. Scully had clicked with her straight away, and Baines' sincerity in keeping Scully's confidence was very clear. She didn't ask many questions and didn't wonder. She was actually one of the first government agents she had met that had not passed her off as 'Mrs Spooky.'

'So, Dana-' Baines started as they neared the air field and the night air lingered with damp condensation. 'My plan is that we get to the coordinates and ram the door, pursue as a raid.' She said forcefully. Scully admired her bravery and military like way of doing things. All the other agents were male and held firearms which were big and macho; however Baines seemed to be stronger than all of them.

'Well, I…' Scully started.

'This is important to you right?' She asked quickly as she saw Scully's hesitation.

'Yes of course.' Scully said with a frown.

'Then we're going to have to use force and get the information out of this man as fast as possible. We have to take every measure.

'All right. I understand, if you feel this is the best thing to do.' Scully said with a nod as they neared the small but sturdy military plane.

'I'm sorry if my measures seem a little.. tough Agent Scully, however this is my way of doing things, and my team will execute what I want them to do.' Baines said with a frown of reassurance to Scully. Scully blinked and looked back at the men who were climbing into the plane. She hadn't realised that Baines was in charge before.

'I… I just want to save my partner. I want to save him more than anything in the world.' Scully said with a sigh and bit her lip as tears threatened to fall. Baines nodded and let a small smile escape her lips.

'All right, I'll do my best to help you in every way I can. I promise.' Baines said with a reassuring pat on Scully's shoulder. Scully nodded and looked to the plane.

'I haven't really done much military style work before, I am usually on my own in this type of situation. I hope I don't prove a liability.' She said as they moved towards the large doors and stepped up the large steps.

After some loading, a large gust of wind flew up towards them as the plane doors closed and Scully felt her coat lapels float around her thighs and then the door was shut. She sat down near a window so she could watch the world disappear beneath her. Baines sat down a little further away and started talking to her troops. Scully sighed heavily and laid her head back in her seat and closed her eyes as the plane's engines started. This moment of comfort and peace made her remember the taste of Mulder's lips on hers and the great harmony she had felt when kissing him and embracing him close. She breathed a sigh of emotion as she remembered feeling him with her and she turned her head to one side as the relived the beautiful moment. Her tenses her tingling and her heart was beating so fast. She could almost feel it pounding in her head….

Suddenly there was a huge crash. Scully gasped in shock and opened her eyes wide in fear.

'Help!' A scream was heard from the other end of the plane. Scully raised her eyebrows in surprise and fear as her bearings came to her. She suddenly remembered where she was and what she was doing. She looked around her and saw that the plane looked different to what it had looked like when she had taken off. It was shaking- violently. Scully gasped in horror as she realised that the plane was beeping a loud siren which sounded like it was alerting an emergency. She frowned and looked down at her watched as her heart sped fast with terror as she tried to figure out what was happening. She saw that it was 5am in the morning. They'd been flying for about seven hours. What, had she been asleep?

Scully stood up quickly and carefully although the sirens were flashing the fasten seat belt signs. She heard another cry for help from the back of the plane and she opened her eyes wide with fear and it hit her for the first time. The plane was in trouble.

It rocked violently from side to side and then dropped a good 50 metres- or it felt like it. Scully cried out as she fell to the floor of the walkway in the middle of the plane onto her front. She scrambled for something to help pull her up and she wriggled her way along, her ribs aching from the impact. She blinked back painful tears and heard various shouts of fear and shouts for help from the end of the craft. She made her way to the back and turned to see Agent Baines sitting on the floor and holding her stomach in pain. Scully hurried towards her and slipped as the plane dipped again. The sirens were now deafening and ran around her head over and over.

'Agent Baines!' Scully cried out and make her way towards her. She took her arm and tried to get her to look at her, but Scully saw that she was very weak and that she was bleeding heavily.

'D…Dana- Venezuela…we're over it. If you survive, you'll be able to get to Brazil… I.. I can't… feel my body… ' She rasped. Scully looked in disbelief and horror as the bleeding was too heavy to stop.

'What happened!' She shouted over the racket and saw a man running around the side of the plane and towards them. Scully turned in shock and fear to look up to the solider.

'I'M GOING TO CHECK THE COCKPIT!' The man shouted over the noise and Scully nodded, her whole body shaking in shock and her eyes wide with fear. She felt Baines' hold on her arm and it was so strong that it hurt. Scully looked back at her quickly.

'Dana… there's an intruder on board… he's… he's bringing the plane down… he stabbed me.' She said weakly between breaths. Scully shook her head in disbelief and breathed heavily and irregularly as the fear inside her engulfed her body. She was sure she was going to die.

'I'm so sorry Agent Baines… I'm so sorry…' Scully said emotionally as she felt Baines' grasp on her start to loosen, until she took her last breath and let go slowly.

Scully shouted out in fury and fear and got to her feet. She looked around at the horrific and mad scene all around her. Baines' men were lying, some dead, and others bracing for impact and calling to her for help and for her to get down. She felt tears sting her eyes as she couldn't believe what was happening. One thing was sure, the man who had caused this was there because of her.

Scully went to the back of the plane and rummaged inside for some parachutes.

'There aren't any! That bastard threw them out of the damn door!' A man said from behind her making her jump. Scully cried out in fear and turned to face him. She saw that he had a large gash on his head.

'We're all going to die… we're all going to die…' He said, trembling. Scully shook her head in and blinked away terrified tears.

'No…' She said in horror and felt a sob engulf her throat. Closing her eyes in defeat she felt the plane lunge forward violently. Scully cried out and was forced back against the wall and shelving she had been rummaging in and hit her arm hard. Scully heard the horrible sound of a bone cracking.

'We're going to crash people!' One of the men called from the other side of the plane. Scully's vision was swaying as the blinding pain in her arm made her loose her footing.

Someone grabbed her and pulled her down to the floor and she had the notion that this person was trying to help her, however she didn't really know what was going on anymore. The sound of the plane's sirens and the horrific noises of the plane falling apart were now disappearing to her.

Suddenly and finally, she heard distant shouts and screams and the plane tilt forwards dramatically so that she slid forwards, but was grabbed by someone behind her. She was pushed forward into a brace position and then, she closed her mind and pictured seeing her father and sister once again as the plane crashed.


	12. Chapter 12

**Death**

**5.35AM- open land somewhere in Venezuela**

The front of the plane crashed head first into the ground. Its back end was extended in the air and the roof had basically come off. Some of it was violently swinging backwards and forwards in the breeze.

The engines were turning dangerously and were sucking various leaves and debris into them and causing them to rupture.

Dead bodies littered the ground. The cockpit was clearly completely demolished. No one would have survived at the front of the plane.

Dana Scully's body lay in an unnatural position underneath an air plane chair which forced her deep into the ground- however, it was this chair which had saved her life.

The crash had occurred about twenty minutes before she came to. Scully slowly blinked as the area around her came into view very slowly and then she suddenly felt an extremely painful stab or pain in her left side, then her left arm and then her whole body started to ache. Scully felt tears run down her face as she felt the shock and pain fill her body. She couldn't control the tears.

Dust was covering her face and she frowned in concentration as she tried to get her breathing back in a steady rhythm. Scully's face contorted in pain as she attempted to move the chair which was holding her down. She tried to figure out if she was seriously injured or bleeding, the only thing she could think of in her shocked state was her broken arm, which she vaguely remembered from being in the plane and a large head wound as her vision was dodgy and was deteriorating.

She pushed the chair as hard as she could and screamed out in pain as felt the pressure on her arm. It took five attempts to get it to move and then when she had gotten it up in the air, she pushed it hard and it fell off her body.

Scully cried out in agony as the chair fell to her side and tumbled down a small hill. She looked around as far as her neck would let her without causing pain and saw the remains of the plane and some remains of… men.

Scully shook her head in disbelief and horror as she tried to block out these images in front of her. They were truly horrific.

She felt the hot Venezuelan sun on her face and knew that she needed water. She grunted in pain as she tried to move from her position and slowly she stretched her legs out. At one point, she feared that she had broken her right leg but then she managed to straighten it. Scully grimaced as the pain shot up and down her legs as she moved them out of the position they were stuck in.

After a few minutes of lying still on the ground and stretching her body, she managed to clamber to her feet and stand, her head dizzy and painful as she turned in shock and her eyes engulfed on the horrific scene all around her.

Scully felt sick. She felt like she would faint any second if she didn't get out of there. Bodies were scattered around the wreckage, some violently disfigured. Through her experience of being a scientist and after all the autopsies she had done, she had never seen a scene as bad as this. Scully didn't know if it was because she had been part of the disaster that was making her feel so ill, or because she was injured inside. She didn't have time to think about it as she heard the terrifying shout for help.

Scully turned quickly and ran towards the sound, shouting out in desperate reply. She located the voice and realised that the man must be under rubble so she started picking up rubble from where she heard the voice.

The sun beat down on her angrily as the morning birds started to enter the sky. After lifting up heavy load of rubble she saw movement and braced herself for the worst.

'It's all right, I'm a doctor. Just stay as still as you can.' She shouted down to the movement. 'Is it just you?' She asked.

'Yes!' The man shouted in a scared voice. Scully saw the rubble move away and then she caught sight of some fingers. She managed to get his hand out and she grabbed it and then pulled it as hard as she could to lift him out. She fell back in exhaustion and pain as her left arm throbbed in agony when she finished pulling him out. Scully took hold of her arm and gritted her teeth in pain. She closed her eyes and felt her head spin again. After a few moments, she looked up to see the man. However he wasn't there anymore.

'Hello?' She called out in confusion as she looked at the open space in front of her. She frowned in suspicion and managed to get to her feet. 'Hello?' She called out again, but saw no one. Scully instinctively grabbed for her gun which was thankfully still intact in its holster on her hip. She brought it out slowly and frowned in concentration as she scanned the area. Suddenly, the roaring engine started to make strange noises. Scully realised she was dangerously close to it and she jumped out of her skin as she heard the crashing noises from it. She ran away from it as fast as she could and felt the fear inside of her rise up her body and made her shake violently. Then, the engine exploded.

Scully screamed and was thrown forward as the force of the explosion pushed her to the ground painfully. She frowned in annoyance as she lay on the ground; a new graze from a rock was throbbing heavily on her left cheek.

Scully closed her eyes as she felt the reality of the situation getting clearer to her by the second. She had no idea where she was, she had no hope in getting anywhere safely, she couldn't see any civilisation for miles and she was cut for time to save…

'Mulder..' She whispered as she thought about him. The emotion this memory gave her was overwhelming and devastating. Scully reluctantly let her mind think that he was dead, that she was too late. She felt like her heart had been smashed into tiny pieces in that second.

'Help!' She screamed in hopelessness. 'HELP ME!'

Sobs grew in her throat and she gasped for air. There was a rustled of movement from the bushes in front of her. Scully raised her head in reaction and frowned in suspicion. Where had the man she had rescued gone? Why had he disappeared?

Scully frowned in concentration and slowly got to her feet again. She was aching all over, but the sounds of someone in the bushes had made her extremely curious. She heard it again and gasped in fear. She took a few steps forward and went for her gun with her right arm. She took another step forward and then, the man appeared right in front of her.

Scully gasped in surprise and held her gun out in front of her and clicked it into place. She frowned in confusion as she saw that the man was smirking.

'What are you doing?' The man asked, holding his arms up in defence. Scully shifted on her feet uneasily.

'Why did you run away? Who the hell are you?' She snapped, unsure.

'I wanted to try and find us some water, you are thirsty aren't you?' The man said calmly. Scully frowned.

'Whatever.' She snapped again. 'Are you the man that brought the plane down? Are you?' She shouted. The man let out a small laugh and then suddenly, when he saw that she wasn't amused and was serious, Scully saw his face turn sour and he frowned. That was when she knew.

'Stay away from me!' She shouted uneasily, her arm trembling with fear. Scully blinked away tears and tried not to let her shock and horrors control her hold on him.

'Now, now Miss Scully. Let's not get angry here… I did it for a reason…' He said defensively.

'You should have died in that plane. You should have suffered the same fate of the innocent people you killed!' She raged. The man shrugged.

'But I suppose it's not a bad thing that both you and I are still alive?' He asked, teasing her. Scully frowned in fury and pointed her gun further towards him.

'Why are you trying to stop me. WHY DAMMIT!' She screamed.

'Because I don't want you to find the cure for your friend. I've been sent, there will be more. And I'll not give up…' He threatened, taking a step towards her. Scully blinked away a tear and moved towards him before he could come any further.

'DON'T you dare…' She raged, and he nodded and stepped back again. Scully tried to process her thoughts.

'How much time do I have.' She asked the dreaded question.

'Not enough.' The man replied. Scully felt fury almost explode her body.

'HOW MUCH!' She shouted. The man saw the gun and sighed.

'About six hours, give or take a few.' He said angrily. Scully sighed and blinked away a tear for Mulder.

'Lead me to the man I'm looking for, and I'll spare your life.' She said.

'No you won't.'

'This isn't the time to argue with me.' She raged. The man paused for a few moments and kept his gaze with her.

'It's not too far on the road. You could drive from here, it would take about 3 hours.'

'I NEED MORE TIME!' She shouted.

'You don't have more time.' He said simply. 'Unless…' He started, but then stopped nervously.

'What?' Scully pressed. He didn't answer. 'UNLESS WHAT!' She shouted.

'Why would I tell you!' He shouted. Scully gritted her teeth in anger and shot her gun into his foot. He shouted out in agony and fell onto his knees. 'Aggghh you bitch!' He shouted. Scully frowned in fury.

'You were saying?' She pressed.

'Un… Unless you give him a special medication- that'll keep him alive for a few more hours.' He managed to say through gritted teeth.

'A few more hours?' Scully asked questioningly, and clicked her gun into place.

'I… I mean… about five or six more hours, then you could get the antidote to Mulder in time.' The man said nervously. Scully nodded and pointed her gun close to his temple.

'Tell me what the medication is.' She threatened. The man didn't answer for a few minutes. Scully kicked him in the shin on the other leg 'TELL ME!'

'You have to ask Alexander!' The man shouted in annoyance at the pain and Scully raised her head.

'You'd better not be lying to me.'

'I'm not.'

'So I'll know the medication when I find Alexander?' She asked. The man nodded weakly.

'You're going to kill me anyway, I was ready to die today.' He said simply, breathing heavily from the loss of blood. Scully shook her head in disbelief at the man.

'Tell me where Alexander is. TELL ME.' Scully shouted. The man winced.

'You have to get over the border, when you get over the border he lives in the first village you come to.'

'What's the village's name.' Scully asked, trying to control her voice. The man shook his head.

'It's called…' He started but didn't answer. Scully took a step forward.

'YES?' She forced. The man sighed.

'It doesn't have a name. It doesn't matter it is the first place you come to. It runs along the river Boa Vista.'

'You could have done so much more with your life, but you did this. Are you happy with yourself?' She asked angrily. The man looked up to her and met her gaze. His eyes were terrifying.

'Extremely.' He said with no remorse. Scully felt herself shiver in terror at his gaze. She knew that there was only one thing to do.

'Well, you'd better say your prayers.' She said angrily, and circled him. She took a deep breath and pointed her gun to his head. 'I'll make it quick.'

'Oh my god…' Skinner muttered breathlessly as he turned on the news.

It was 6am and he had just woken up from a not so restful sleep. He stared at the TV with disbelieving eyes as he saw the picture of a plane, completely dishevelled and destroyed and sending out smoke in the vast wasteland of Venezuela. Skinner shook his head and his mouth was open wide in shock. He saw the tail of the plane and recognised the numbers on it immediately. He hadn't wanted to recognise them.

Skinner suddenly felt faint as he realised, to his complete horror, that it was Scully's plane.

As she fled from the site, she heard the sound of helicopters coming towards them. She ran as fast as she could in her physical state, the leaves of the trees and bushes whipping her face as she ran fast, but she knew that she was out of time, and needed to get to the road as fast as she could. She also knew that she couldn't go to a hospital, the treatment would take too long and people would be looking for the missing passenger of flight MX6. Her mind was dizzy and clouded, but she kept thinking about Mulder, and that she had to save him, before she lost the man she loved more than anyone in the world.

After an hour of running, Scully turned up near a road in exhaustion. She had heard the sound of the cars and had been running towards them ever since. She felt her throat was dry and she desperately needed water, but she had to keep going- just to reach the road.

As she turned south and ran a few hundred metres, she reached the top of a small hill. As she reached the edge of it, Scully gasped with relief at what she saw. The first sign of civilisation.

There was a road running through a small town, and it looked like it had food and water, and also cars. Scully didn't know how far she would have to go to get a car, but she knew that everything was necessary.

She ran towards the road trying to keep cover behind various trees. Her boots scuffed the dusty ground and the sun made her sweat heavily. She wiped her forehead and took deep breaths of air in exhaustion. Scully started to make her way towards the small town.

Skinner ran a worried and over his bald head and then his pulled on his glasses to check that he had read the numbers right. He knew he was due at Scully's apartment to help Mulder now, but he was stuck about what to do.

Fumbling in shock for his phone, he dialled Scully's number- and there was no answer. He then dialled the number for the FBI, and they couldn't give him any more information apart from that Scully had definitely been on that plane.

Skinner turned back to the TV as the reporter started to speak. He turned his phone off and listening intensively, hoping for a sign.

'At approximately 0700 hours Venezuelan time, flight number MX8; a military aircraft carrying American government agents crashed into this southern region of the country. It is not sure whether there are any survivors of this crash yet, and we do not know the reason for the accident. Reporter Daniel-' The female reporter read.

Skinner had heard enough. He put his head in his hands and sighed heavily, fearing the worst.

Suddenly, he jumped at the sound of his phone ringing. He picked it up reluctantly and in fear of hearing bad news.

'Walter Skinner?' He said. There was a loud fuzzy disturbance on the other end. Skinner couldn't hear anything but that for a moment. He felt his chest fill with hope as he suddenly guessed who it was. Skinner sat up straight and frowned in confusion and concern. 'Scully? SCULLY?' He asked loudly as the reception got worse, but slowly, it started to get a little better and over the crackle, he began to hear a female voice, one that he recognised anywhere.

'-stuck in Venezuela, but I'm all right… I'm not badly injured-' Scully's voice was frantic and hard to hear. Skinner raised his eyebrows in concern.

'I can hardly hear you Scully, thank god you're all right…' He sighed with relief, she seemed to hear him now.

'Can you hear me Sir?' She asked.

'Yes, yes I can hear you. What happened?'

'I was in a plane crash…' She started. Skinner thought that she sounded like she was out of breath and panicking. 'Someone tried to bring the plane down- a man who wants Mulder dead. I have to find Alexander and I'm going to try and drive there. I don't have much time-' Her voice was suddenly taken over by bad reception again and Skinner started to speak to her loudly.

'I can't hear you! Dana!' He said frantically, picking up on her frenzied and frightened tone of voice. 'SCULLY! SCULLY!' He shouted down the phone, but suddenly the phone line went dead.

'Dammit'! Scully shouted in fury as the phone died. She slammed it back on its hook and looked around her. A man was sitting away from her smoking a pipe with a suspicious look on his face. Scully sighed and turned away from his gaze and started to make her way along the dusty road again.

Skinner slammed the phone down angrily and ran out into the corridor to go and warn Mulder. He had to tell him, it was his right to know what was happening to her. He knew that he wouldn't like the news at all. Skinner sighed heavily and put a hand to his eyes to shelter them from the sunshine. He shook his head in defeat as he entered the warm breeze of Washington DC that afternoon and ran for the car.

Scully cursed under her breath as she ran along the roadside. She needed to hitch a ride quickly, she was desperate. The hot air was making her sweat nervously and angrily, but she was fuelled by a lasting and desperate force to help Mulder, to save his life.

'Excuse me?' She called out to a man who was walking to his car. He had on jeans and scuffed boots which was made from leather. Scully heard the sound of planes overhead and turned her head to see that they were flying towards the wreckage. She raised her eyebrows in worry as she realised that they would know that there was one person missing- and a man who had been shot in the head.

She turned back to the man and frowned with concentration. He looked at her rough appearance and her ripped shirt and trousers. He also saw the way she carried her arm, and Scully knew this. She tried desperately hard not to look desperate and hurt- it would give it away. He frowned in surprise.

'Please Sir, I need a ride.' She said politely. He looked to her cheek and saw the deep cut in it.

'What happened?' He asked in his accent. Scully shifted uncertainly on her feet and sighed.

'I… I live on a farm, the animals got too hard for me to handle.' She lied pathetically. The man looked sceptical and she sighed heavily at her stupid attempt at lying. 'Please, I'm too far away from home and I really need to get back to my family- they'll be worried about me.' She said.

There was a silence between them and Scully sighed heavily and thought of Mulder, dying. She blinked away a frustrated tear and the man seemed to have seen her sadness. At the sign on this emotion he shook his head in defeat.

'Fine, I will help you.' He said with a small nod. Scully smiled in relief.

'Thank you so much- thank you Sir.' She gushed, and walked towards the car door. She pulled it open and grimaced in pain in weakness. She got into the car as quickly as she could so she could get undercover and out of view.

'Where do you want to go?' The man asked, his dark eyes piercing into her as he turned to her after slamming the door shut. Scully took a deep breath at the awkward but necessary position she had thrown herself into.

'As far as you can go…' Scully said. The man looked at her with confusion. She lowered her head. 'I'm sorry- but I need to get to the border or close to it, so I can get to Brazil.'

Mulder lay asleep in his bed and he felt his head swimming. He felt sick and his head ached heavily. He couldn't bear the pain much longer- it was so torturous. He felt like his chest was going to collapse any moment. Thinking away from the pain in his chest, he realised that he was feeling delirious and started to fall into a dream of being well again, and seeing Scully coming through his door, a smile on her face and then moving into his arms. Mulder sighed heavily with happiness as he imagined her in his arms, his chest was breathing easily and he was healthy. He then imagined picking her small and beautiful body up in his arms and then laying her down on his sofa, while he moved up her body kissing her tenderly, his heart beating furiously with passion…

'Mulder!'

Skinner was beside him. Mulder gasped in shock and opened his eyes wide as Skinner's loud shout woke him out of his delirious state. He felt as if he had been in heaven and had just come crashing down into hell.

'Sir?' Mulder rasped weakly, his chest was so painful he felt it would burst. Skinner seemed to realise this and ran for his medicine quickly then gave it to him carefully. Mulder swallowed the tablets and took a sip of the disgusting medicine that had been made by Scully and Dr Fessen. He almost retched at the taste every time but he knew that it was what would make him feel better.

'Mulder, I'm sorry I woke you like this. I've got some news- about Scully.' Skinner said nervously and regretfully. Mulder almost spat out the medicine in surprise and he grabbed Skinners arm.

'What… what is it… what?' Mulder asked desperately between breaths. Skinner sighed and saw that this was making his condition worse.

'Please Mulder, you've got to calm down.' Skinner said angrily, only because he was worried. He forced Mulder down onto his back and looked at him seriously. 'Just listen to me carefully.'

'WHAT has happened to her.' Mulder rasped angrily and glared at Skinner.

'The plane she was on was ambushed and was brought down. She survived the crash.' Skinner added hastily as he saw Mulder's face turn white. 'She's on her way to Brazil now, I hope. She's going to get there, she wanted me to tell you that she's fine.' He said reassuringly as Mulder seemed to look like he was going to kill someone. 'She's fine Mulder.'

There was a silence between them and Mulder's expression was devastating. Thoughts of panic rushed through his head. All he cared about what he safety, that was it. Scully was in a plane crash? What a terrible thing to happen to her! Mulder felt hatred and fear for her make his heart feel like it was breaking. He looked up at Skinner.

'You're sure… she's all right?' Mulder said weakly. Skinner nodded and sighed.

'She said that she was. I'm sure she is. She's very lucky to have survived the crash Mulder, very lucky.'

'Well, she's always been lucky...' Mulder said with a touch of happiness and adoration to his voice; however this was quickly cut off with fear for her life and his face turned white and fearful again. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, terrified for her.

'You need to save your strength, she's fighting for you.' Skinner said, and got up and turned away from the bed. He made his way out of the room to leave Mulder alone for a few moments. Skinner sighed heavily with sadness and rested his arm on the doorway. He frowned and rubbed his forehead with his fingers as he felt the stress and worry of the situation take its toll on his body. He felt sleepy himself, but just as he was about to drift off into sleep, the doorbell rang announcing Dr Fessen's morning arrival.

Scully looked across uneasily at the man as he seemed to look at her like she were mad.

'Brazil?'

'Yes, I need to get to the border.'

'You're getting in a car to go all the way to Brazil?' The man asked incredulously. Scully sighed heavily and shook her head desperately as he didn't make a move to start the car. She felt frustrated tears cloud her eyes.

'Please, I am trying to save my friend's life. I need to get to Brazil or as near as you can get me. I can't get a plane because I'll never get through in time. I have to make my own way.' She begged, then turned to the man desperately and put a hand on his arm. He looked surprised as she looked deeply into him with her tear stained eyes. 'I'm begging you, please, please help me.' She pleaded. The man frowned in concern and confusion, and after a few minutes he sighed and nodded, taking his arm away from her grasp and putting it back on the wheel. He started the car.

'I'll take you as far as I can.' He said blankly, and Scully realised the tone wasn't asking for a thank you. She nodded and closed her eyes as the car started and sped off down the road. She was finally on her way, but time was definitely not on her side…


	13. Chapter 13

**2 hours later**

Mulder was sweating heavily. He was gasping for air and he couldn't breathe. Dr Fessen was nervous and was desperately trying to ease his pain, but it was too great. Mulder was going to die if he didn't do something about his physical state and fast. A couple of times he had heard him gasp Scully's name, and Dr Fessen and Skinner sat biting their nails nervously as Mulder was in critical condition.

Scully frowned in confusion as she awoke with a start as the car came to an abrupt stop. She opened her eyes and blinked at the brightness. She turned to her driver.

'This is as far as I will take you; you will have to get other transport across Brazil. This is about 200 metres away from the boarder where you can get across.'

Scully nodded at his words and felt her stomach tighten with worry as she wondered how she would get through customs.

'Thank you, thank you so much. I don't have any money, but I can give you my…'

'-No worry, I will not be needing any money or any jewellery.' The man said with a small smile as Scully reached to unbuckle her watch strap. She frowned in protest but he help up his hand and smiled.

'You are in trouble, I can see this. I will not let you lose valuable things on me, I am grateful that you are telling me the truth and that you have not disobeyed me. Therefore, I will not want any thanks.' He said. Scully smiled happily and felt so relieved at this man's courtesy. She nodded and reached out and shook his hand. The man pointed in the direction of the way she had to go, and she got out of the car. She slammed the heavy door shut and then watched as the man drove away from her, leaving her out again in the open to smuggle her way through the dangers of homeland security.

Scully made up her mind quick enough to what she was going to do. She turned on her heels and ran into the depths of the woods in front of her to find some coverage. She took out her gun and clicked it into place- not that she wanted to use it on official men.

Seeing a patch of wood that was clearing in front of her, she guessed that the border was nearing her. She frowned in concentration and tried to see through the trees as she made her way towards the clearing. The sun was bright in the sky and she held a hand to her eyes to shield them as she made her way. Suddenly she heard footsteps and took refuge behind a tree trunk, nervous she would be seen. Scully closed her eyes as she heard male voices come nearer to her and she took a deep breath, and her thoughts turned to Mulder again in this moment of silence.

Scully squeezed her eyes shut as she felt her arm pang with pain again. She tried desperately not to wince in pain as it was nearly unbearable, and the men were near. She frowned in the heat and the pain as she heard their footsteps pass her and go to the other side of the tree. She felt her palms sweat as she heard them move away from her.

A few moments later after making sure they were far enough away, Scully gritted her teeth as she turned from around the tree into the open. She was terrified that they would still be near, but to her great relief she saw that they weren't. She took a deep breath and moved further through the forest towards the border. She quickly put her gun back in its place and took long and deep breaths as the pain in her arm continued to annoy her. She was desperately in need of water and shelter- but she knew that there was no time to stop. Once she was over the border, she would keep going until she found what she was looking for- the cure for Mulder.

After about ten minutes of walking, with the leaves crackling under her boots as she staggered nearer towards a clearing, she heard the sound of cars passing. Scully gasped with surprise and broke into a run as she followed the clearing and the sound of the cars. She ran for about five minutes and then stopped suddenly as she heard voices again and sounds of radios. She gasped as she saw the clearing turning into a large security centre. She was at the border.

'We've got to get him to a hospital now.' Dr Fessen said urgently to Skinner as Mulder started to look very blue. 'He's going to suffocate! This is the time to get him out of here!'

'Scully told us not to take him to a hospital because they wouldn't understand what was wrong with him!' Skinner shouted.

'I'm going to be his doctor there! Trust me!' Fessen shouted as he grabbed Mulder's arms and held him down as his body started to thrash about violently. Skinner frowned wth concern and confusion- torn between the voice of Scully and the voice of this doctor who he also trusted, however he wasn't sure how far his trust should go. Skinner looked at Mulder again and felt his emotions take hold of him.

'All right! All right lets go!' Skinner shouted desperately over Mulder's gasps. He sighed heavily and moved towards him to help Dr Fessen pick him up and take him to the car. They heaved him upwards and then lifted him across the room and out of the door. Dr Fessen looked at Mulder with worried eyes and Skinner felt his palm sweat with fear for losing Mulder. He took a deep sigh and nodded as Fessen motioned to him to help get Mulder in the back of his car.

Scully clicked her gun into place and scanned the area suspiciously. She couldn't see anyone which posed at threat at the moment, however the area looked hard to get past illegally and she knew that she had nothing to help get her through- no passport, she'd lost that on the plane. She was also supposed to be dead.

Scully took a deep breath and took her first few steps forward down the hill towards the heavy gate. She was still in the trees and was covered, but she needed to get down the small hill she was on and onto the road. Scully's head swam with ideas, and one seemed like the only possible way to get through the border, but she knew it was going to be incredibly risky. But she knew it was the only thing that she could do, to save Mulder's life.

Scully listened to hear the next car come near the border and in a slick movement while swinging her gun up to face the driver, she jumped out from behind the trees right in front of a small van which screeched to a painful halt.

The driver cursed loudly as he nearly ran into the short, small American looking woman and he rubbed the sweat off his brow nervously as she saw the gun in the woman's hands. He gasped and grabbed the door of his van and pushed it open quickly.

'Stay calm! I need you to stay calm!' She was saying to him. He could just about understand her English and gasped nervously as she pointed it directly at his head. He couldn't believe this was happening.

Scully felt her heart race with desperation and panic in herself. She was a mixture of emotions and tears threatened to fall from her eyes as she thought about how far she was going- but it was the only way to do it.

She didn't want to use her gun, she just needed to take control of the situation. She needed to persuade him to hide her in the back of his van so that she could get through the boarder.

'Sir, please calm down, I don't want to hurt you.' She said softly to the man who looked terrified as he raised his hands in surrender. 'I won't hurt you if you stay calm and don't shout!' She said and the man nodded weakly. She took steps towards him and saw the shock on his face. 'Do you understand me?' She asked, and the man nodded quickly.

'Y-Yes..' He said weakly. She took a deep breath and nodded.

'I need you to get me past the border. All you need to do is let me get in the back of your van and hide while you go through security.' She said simply and the man seemed to look confused. 'I need to get through the border.' Scully said slowly and then the man nodded to show he understood. Scully sensed his uncertainty of her. 'I am not a criminal- but I have no identification with me and I am on a very important mission. Please trust me, I will not hurt you.' She said slowly and clearly so he could understand. He nodded nervously and Scully moved to the back of the van. He followed slowly and went to open the back for her. She frowned in concentration as the man opened his van and showed what was inside- a few rugs and old bags. Scully looked at the man.

'I… do… deliver…' The man said nervously and in simple English. Scully nodded and got into the back of the van making her way to the very end and towards the driving seat. She would keep her gun against him to make sure he went through with it. Scully felt awful, but she knew it was a matter of life and death for Mulder.

The man nervously got into the front seat and saw her behind him and he jumped. Scully muttered a sorry but her kept her gun near his back as he turned to the front and sighed.

'I won't hurt you if you get me through this- just act as normal.' She said seriously. The driver nodded and swallowed heavily. With one last nervous sigh he started the van and made his way down the road towards the border security.

Skinner paced the hospital floors nervously as Mulder was rushed into the E.R. He closed his eyes and tried to let the stress inside of him pass, but it just wouldn't. If Scully didn't find out how to cure him and help them keep the disease under control- he would definitely be dead in the next few hours.

Skinner shook his head as the horrible thought came into his head and he felt sorrow hit his chest as he thought about Scully's reaction to the horrible event- if it happened…

Scully was sweating in the heat of the back of the van and the road was bumpy. As they turned to the right she saw the border security start to appear and she started to feel nervous. She prayed that the plan would go all right, but she feared the worst.

The van pulled up slowly as the security guards came to the side of the van and enclosed on them. Scully kept her gun in place but hid under the rugs and in the darkness of the back of the van. She tried desperately hard not to make a sound.

The muffled voices of the officials and the van driver kept her feeling alert and awake. The voices were unclear and Scully heard the mexican men talking to the driver. It all sounded very calm. Scully was relieved when the officials patted his roof of the van and then the engine started again, and it was done. She was through the border.

Scully breathed a huge sigh of relief as she felt the van moving its way along the roads. She looked up to see the driver and saw that he was driving normally. She slowly got up and made her way to the front of the van, keeping her gun low as not to frighten him.

'Thank you.' She said to him, and the man turned in surprise to her and took a deep breath. Scully looked at the road ahead. 'Where is the first village?' Scully asked. The man looked at her with confusion and the pointed ahead of him.

'Village.' He said simply and pointed to a set of straw like houses. Scully shook her head in dibelief. What a place to be hiding.

'Could you take me there?' She asked. The man nodded and they turned left off the main road and towards the village.

They neared the village and the driver started to slow down. Scully got ready to get out the van and prepared herself. She looked at the man with friendly eyes.

'Thank you, thank you so much.' She said and the man nodded, still shaken from seeing her with a gun. He slowed right down just outside the simple village and Scully opened the back door and slid out of the van. She looked ahead of her and took a deep breath. Checking her gun was in place, she ran towards the village quickly and swiftly, without being seen.

Scully heard the sound of innocent young children and families as she backed up against one of the straw houses. She felt guilt and fear for them, this was going to be dangerous. She wondered what on earth they would think if they saw her. She needed to get in without being seen. Suddenly, from out of the corner of her eye she saw a white man, who definetely did not look Brazilian. She frowned in suspicion as she saw him wearing whites and cotton trousers. This man had strong features and dark hair and was pacing in front of the house she was hiding behind. Scully frowned with concentration and edged towards him slowly. She took a deep breath and then, with all of her training and thought in order, she reached out from behind the house and grabbed the man by the back of his white cotton shirt and pulled him against the house. He cried out for a split second but Scully covered his mouth with her hand and stuck her gun to his throat.

Their eyes met and she glared into his. The man's eyes were wide and looked fearful of her and he scrambled to get free but Scully wasn't going to let it happen. She pushed the gun further into his neck and pushed him against the wall harder.

'My name is Agent Scully. I think you know why I'm here.' She said, and then in anger and kicked him hard in the balls and the man's face crumped up in agony and she kept her hand over his mouth.

'Now, listen to me. Do you know how Alexander is?' She asked slowly. The man paused for a moment and then nodded. Scully let out a small smile.

'Good. Now, can you take me to him?' She said simply. And the man nodded. Scully took a deep breath and turned the man around quickly. 'If you dare say a word I'll shoot you dead, you hear me?' She said angrily, and the man nodded nervously. Scully pushed the gun under his shirt and agaisnt his back.

'Right, take me to him, and act normal.' She said strongly, and the man took a deep breath. He walked out from behind the house. They looked normal and unsuspicious, some villagers were sitting happily and going about their every day lives. Scully kept her determination going as she was taken round the side of the house and to the entrance. The man slowly opened the door and stepped inside, bringing Scully in with him. The door closed, and that's when she heard it. Alexander's voice. Scully pushed the man forwards threateningly.

'Hey! What are you doing?' Alexander asked in a thick Russian accent and then started speaking in Russian to the man. Scully pushed the gun further into his back and the man didn't answer. She felt her sweat run down her back in suspense. Suddenly she grabbed the man by the arm and then pushed the gun towards his head and came out from behind him. Scully then turned face to face with Alexander.

Alexander stood up straight away in shock. He started at Scully with a startled face.

'Agent Scully?' He asked incredulously. Scully clicked the gun into place and the other man started shaking.

'Yes, who were you expecting? Santa Claus?' Scully joked, but didn't crack a smile. She pushed the man she had been holding down onto the dirty floor. Scully turned to Alexander and pointed the gun at his head.

'Now, I'm going to make this nice and simple. You know why I'm here, and you know what happened to Agent Mulder and I in Russia…' Scully said strongly, but the word Mulder made her voice waver slightly. '…So I want to know what I need to do to save Mulder's life. And you're going to tell me. Right now.' She said, her lip trembling with anger. Alexander didn't move but stared at her.

'How did you get here?' Alexander asked in shock. Scully moved forward and kicked Alexander in the leg with anger. He lurched over in pain.

'SHUT UP!' She shouted. 'Tell me what I have to do now!'

Alexander looked up at her with angry but scared eyes. He swallowed heavily and slowly sat back down on his chair. Scully kept her grip on the gun firmly, desperate not to do something stupid.

'The remedy for the disease is this…' Alexander said weakly, and handed Scully a formula of medicine on a piece of paper. She looked down at it and saw it was complicated.

'This is crap.' She said in fear. Alexander shook his head.

'No, it's not. But I suppose you will just have to trust me.' Alexander said. Scully felt anger rise in her body. What was she supposed to do?

'Get on the phone now.' Scully shouted at him, and Alexander reluctantly reached for his satellite phone. She felt sick at seeing this man responsible for millions of lives living in hiding and in luxury. 'Give it to me.' She said, reaching out her hand, and Alexander handed it over slowly. Scully kept her hold on her gun and reached for the phone painfully with her broken arm. Alexander noticed this.

'Oh, you can't hold two things at once?' He said with a smirk. Scully looked back at him with fury and raged towards him, she wasn't going to put up with it this time. With one sharp blow and whacked the gun across his face, and then turned back to the phone. Alexander groaned in pain.

'I'm going to wait here with you, until I hear news that Mulder is getting better. If he isn't and I find out that you are lying, I will kill you. Because I swear to you, if he dies…' Scully shouted, tears stinging her eyes. She had to stop herself before she broke down and dialled the number of George's Memorial. She kept her eye on Alexander as she lifted the reciever and waited.

'Yes, this is Agent Scully with the FBI, or Doctor Dana Scully. I am calling about Mr Fox Mulder. Has he been ommitted into hospital yet?' Scully asked, biting her lip to stop her from crying. This connection with home was effecting her emotionally. The nurse on the other end checked her files.

'Yes Miss Scully he has.' She said. Scully took a deep breath and knew that wasn't good. She nodded.

'Ok, I need to get this information to his doctor. Doctor Fessen. Please could I speak with him right now.' She said and the nurse transferred her over to his office. Alexander glared at Scully with defeated eyes.

Scully waited for Doctor Fessen.

'Dana?' He said on the other end. Scully breathed a sigh of relief.

'Doctor Fessen. I have an antidote for Mulder. I need you to make this right away and to get it into his system. Please don't ask questions and don't slow me down. You know how desperate this is.' She said forcefully, and got ready to read out the ingredients for the remedy.

Scully read everything out and Doctor Fessen took everything down. Scully took a sigh of relief.

'Please, call me back on this number when Mulder's condition has changed. I will need to get back to Washington in time to give him his final antidote so I need to know fast.' She said desperately, and when Doctor Fessen agreed.

'In the meantime, get Skinner on the line, I need to give him my coordinates.' She said, and Fessen quickly moved Skinner onto the line.

'Dana? Are you all right?' Skinner asked. Scully took a deep breath.

'Yes Sir, I'm all right. I have found an antidote which will help Mulder's condition and keep him stable for six or seven more hours. Sir, I need you to send the fastest plane you have over here right away to pick me up. I also have two prisoners.' Scully said, looking at Alexander and his man. Alexander sighed heavily.

'I can send an Army plane, it should get there to you in about two to three hours. It's the fastest available right now.' Skinner said and Scully nodded in approval.

'Thank you Sir. You have my coordinates?' She asked.

'I got them right here, we have a team tracing this call and we got it, that's the good thing about satellite phones.' Skinner said jokingly to calm her nerves. Scully nodded and sighed heavily. She wasn't going to ask about Mulder and show Alexander her weakness, not now.

'Thank you Sir.' She put down the phone and stared at Alexander with furious eyes. Scully slowly pulled a chair over for her to sit on and clicked her gun into place.

'Now, we wait.'

Doctor Fessen and the laboratory technicians started working on the antidote as quickly as they could.

'Sir, this mixture seems extremely… strange to say the least.' One of the technicians said. Fessen nodded and pushed away the comment with frustration.

'I know! But we need to make it now! Please stop commenting and just do it!' He said in a hurry, and the technicians turned back to their work with low heads and worked hard in fear. Fessen was desperate for this to work. He looked across to the medical room to his right where Mulder was in intensive care and was in a bad state. He felt great worry for him and felt like he had a great responsibility on his shoulders. He couldn't mess this up.

Scully blew air out of her mouth so that it pushed a flyaway piece of hair from her eyes. She was so hot, the sweat was wet on her skin and she pulled her hair into her hand and over her shoulder. She looked across at Alexander and his guard man to see them tied to their chairs securely. She had tied them up after she had finished speaking to Skinner to stop them from escaping or annoying her even more than she already was. They glared back at her with angry eyes and Scully didn't flinch. She wanted to appear strong and confident. She held her gun in her other hand and started checking the bullets. Alexander looked at her gun with anticipation.

'Are you going to give me the antidote?' She asked in a questioning and threatening tone without looking at them. They didn't answer and Scully sighed.

'There's no point keeping it from me, I'll get it off you in the end. It just depends how much pain you want to feel.' Scully said and clicked the gun into place. She looked up at Alexander who was glaring at her. She raised her eye brows questioningly. 'I'm going home with that antidote whether you like it or not.' She said with force and a no nonsense attitude. They didn't answer her, but Scully looked away from them and back at the phone with tearful eyes. She looked brave on the outside, but on the inside she was crumbling.

Skinner turned back to the medical room where Mulder was resting, nearly unconcious. Doctor Fessen was in the lab next door making the adtidote. Skinner looked across at him with what he wanted to look like a reassuring glance, but then realised that he couldn't do it. Skinner sighed and awkwardly turned away from Doctor Fessen and took a deep breath. If only Mulder knew where Scully was now.

Skinner looked at Mulder's limp figure in the bed and looked at all the medical equipment surrounding him. He felt a stab of anger towards rhe men that had done this. He had instructed the team flying out to Scully to bring the Russian's back alive for questioning but he had no idea what really was going to happen. He just hoped that it would be all right. With one more sad glance at Mulder, he turned away from him and in anger and frustration, Skinner made his way to the hospital's cafeteria to try and cut himself off from the action at present.


	14. Chapter 14

**One Hour Later**

Scully felt like she was in a dream. She looked around from where she was sitting and saw herself back at the office at the FBI. She frowned in confusion and saw that she was holding her gun in her hand and that she was sitting on the chair backwards so that the back of the chair was in front of her. Scully pulled back from the chair and slowly stood up in surprise. She was uncertain of her surroundings. Scully saw that her gun was clicked into the ready position and the saftey was off. She looked down at its strong metal frame as it shone in a sun beam from the window near the ceiling. Scully let out a small relieved laugh as she remembered standing on a chair to close that window and how Mulder had just…

_Mulder. _

Scully suddenly jumped up and gasped in surpise. Mulder was in danger. He needed her help. She was supposed to be in Brazil, where the hell was she? What had happened?

Scully touched the desk and felt that it felt very real and she flinched back at the touch of the wood on her hands. She frowned in great confusion and felt tears sting her eyes at the uncertainty of the moment. She shook her head in disbelief when suddenly someone opened the office door.

Scully heard the door and grabbed her gun and pointed it towards the door ready to shoot. But she suddenly lowered it in fear as she realised that it was Mulder.

Scully dropped her gun and her mouth was open wide with shock. She blinked a hot tear away from her eye.

'Scully?' Mulder asked in shock and put his hands up in surrender. Scully swallowed hard. 'What's wrong?'

'Mu- Mulder?' She whimpered. Mulder frowned at her in concern and put his hands down slowly as Scully lowered her gun to the desk. 'Mulder!' She cried out in emotion and ran towards him. Mulder looked at her with surprise and she ran into his embrace, like a frightened little child. Mulder put his arms around her tightly and stroked her hair with confusion. Scully smelt his scent and dreamily felt herself melt into his arms. She felt so safe there.

'Agent Scully?' A voice called from behind her. Scully frowned in confusion. It wasn't Mulder. 'HEY! MISS SCULLY!' The rough voice said again, louder this time. Scully jumped out of her skin and opened her eyes. The musky house and the hot air seeped back into her vision and senses and she jumped up out of her seat and grabbed her gun and clicked it into place in delirious fear. Scully suddenly felt the extreme pain in her arm come back and the reality of the situation hit her. She was back in Brazil, she hadn't left. She had fallen asleep.

'Get back! Get back!' Scully shouted desperately as her vision swayed. Slowly it settled and she saw that Alexander and the man were still in front of her, secured tightly. They were smiling at her.

'You fell asleep.' The man said, laughing. 'We thought we would have some fun and scare you.' Alexander joined in with the laughing. Scully gritted her teeth and started to advance towards them to knock the man unconcious when she heard the high pitched ringing of the phone. She stopped dead in her tracks and blinked back sleepy tears. This was it. The news.

Scully took a deep breath and Alexander and the man were silent again. She kept her eyes on them as she reached for the phone. Scully picked it up with a trembling hand.

'Yes?' She asked in a wavering voice. There was a silence on the other end. Scully fought back terrified tears and carried the phone away from the men. She took a deep breath. 'Hello?' She asked in a high pitched voice.

'Hello Dana.' It was Skinner. Scully froze and swallowed deeply. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself and she felt a tear roll down her cheek in annoyance.

'Hello Sir, tell me the results, please.' She said desperately. Skinner paused on the phone for a few seconds, but they felt like minutes to Scully.

'Mulder has been given the vaccine. He was given it about twenty minutes ago and since then he has started to get some of his strength back and he seems to be improving in health…' Skinner said to Scully and Scully took a deep sigh of relief. If she wasn't keeping two men hostage she would have jumped in the air in happiness.

'Oh thank god. Thank god!' Scully said desperately and happy tears fell down her cheeks. Scully felt her whole body shaking.

'Dana, the plane should be with you in the next hour. Are you all right?' Skinner asked her, worry in his voice. Scully nodded.

'Yes I'm fine Sir, I'll be all right.' She said happily and knew that she wasn't really, her sugar levels were down and she was in desperate need for some water and a sling for her arm, but she didn't care.

'All right, get the antidote, and get back here.' Skinner said, and Scully bit her lip in anticipation. Skinner put down the phone and Scully heard the dial tone in her ear. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second as she took in the information. Mulder was ok for now, she could get over that hurdle and get on with the next task, getting the antidote.

Scully turned around to face Alexander and the man with a look that could kill. Alexander looked at her with surprise as she slowly advanced towards him.

'He is better, yes?' He asked in a thick Russian accent. Scully didn't answer but grabbed her chair and pulled it in front of Alexander. She felt anger flow through her body.

'He's all right for now. I need the real cure now.' She said in a low voice. Alexander shifted uncomfortably. Scully sensed his unwillingness to help and reacted to it. 'No, none of that.' She said threateningly, and rose to her feet and stood in front of him. 'Tell me where it is. I know that it is in this house, so tell me where I can find it.' She said simply. There was a long pause.

'I don't think that I can tell you…' Alexander started, but Scully wasn't having it. As soon as he started she brought her gun up and then smacked it across his face violently. Alexander cried out in pain and spat out blood from his mouth. Scully glared at him menacingly.

'I'll ask you again. Where is it?' She said, and sat down on her chair making herself comfortable.

'I don't know.' Alexander said in a low voice and glared at Scully with evil eyes. She frowned and shook her head.

'That's not the right answer.' She said, and pointed her gun to his foot. Alexander flinched and Scully raised an eyebrow.

'Yes?' She asked, powerful and confident. Alexander frowned angrily.

'It's… it's in the back room.' He said with difficulty. 'But you need to unlock the box it is in, I was going to pass it onto one of my buyers tomorrow so I am keeping it safe.'

'Yes, I can see that, living out here in Brazil of all places in this pathetic hide out.' Scully said with a sneer. She stood up and made her way behind the two men and into the back area of the house. She felt fear in her blood as she didn't know whether to trust him or not. She felt herself trembling as she reached for a silver container which was locked.

'Is it this one?' She said, entering the room where the men were again, and Alexander flinched.

'Careful!' He said desperately, and Scully felt terror run through her. She slowly put the silver box down on the floor in front of the men. There was a code on the box. Scully grabbed her gun out of her trouser belt again and clicked it up to Alexander's head. She glared at him.

'What's the code.' She snarled. Alexander didn't answer. 'WHAT IS IT!' She shouted and grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him angrily. Alexander took a deep breath of annoyance.

'56, 89, 10.' He said slowly and regretfully. Scully frowned in concentration and went back to the box. She knelt down and put the code into the lock. Grabbing onto the latch she closed her eyes and said a silent prayer. She took a deep breath and she could feel her body shaking. What if this was a trap?

'If you're lying to me, you're going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble.' She said angrily, and Alexander didn't answer but glared at her. Scully looked down at the box again, and on the count of three, she flipped the latch.

The lid of the box slowly rose up to show the contents inside. Scully looked at it in wonder as she saw how protected the vaccine was inside it. There was thick glass all about the bottle which was inside, and the bottle of vaccine was so small. Scully took a deep breath and frowned in concentration as she studied it.

'You need to give him a small dose, or too much could kill him.' Alexander said in a low voice. Then to Scully's surprise he muttered something in Russian. Scully stood up with rage and looked across at Alexander's man to see that he was nodding as if he was agreeing with Alexander. She clicked her gun towards his head again and walked towards them.

'TELL ME WHAT YOU JUST SAID!' Scully screamed. Alexander lowered his head. 'TELL ME!' She said angrily. Alexander looked up at her with a slight smile. 'What the hell are you smiling about?' She shouted, tears stinging her eyes. She had to admit it, she was afraid.

'It's too late now anyway.' Alexander said in a low voice. Scully's head was spinning.

'What?' She asked incredulously.

'It's too late. You won't be able to take us back to America with you, my men are coming to ambush your plane.' Alexander said in a calm voice. Scully's mouth dropped open in shock and she started to perspire. She felt dizzy.

'What did you just say?' She said in disbelief. Her legs were weak under her.

'You heard me, when your plane arrives your team will find you dead.' Alexander said in an angry voice. Scully felt a stab of terror run through her.

'Listen to me you son of a bitch, you're going to be dead before they get here-' She started, but was stopped by the sound of a plane overhead. Scully opened her eyes wide with fear and turned towards the sound of the plane. She realised that she was shaking. The force of the plane was starting to make the house shake. Suddenly she heard people screaming and running around outside. She knew that the people here were simple and that they weren't used to planes. Scully couldn't help feeling the fear that was in her stomach. She turned to face Alexander with rage.

'How dare you do this you bastard!' She shouted, and lunged for him, but before she could grab him she was grabbed from behind by someone.

Scully screamed and scrambled for release but the hold on her was too strong. Her arm was being bent back by the man and she screamed in agony, stars filling her eyes. She felt the cold metal barrel of a gun hit her back and she gasped in surprise.

'Drop the gun.' The man said who was holding her. He had a thick Russian accent and his voice was low and military like. Scully closed her eyes and tried to imagine this wasn't happening. She bit back a defeated tear and saw the vaccine on the floor in front of her.

'No.' She muttered under her breath. The man grabbed her tighter and reached over and grabbed her gun from her, but as he grabbed it Scully shouted out angrily and shot the gun towards Alexander as fast as she could.

Scully felt like her world was moving in slow motion and she heard the plane touch down outside. She was flung towards the floor and slowly she raised her head to look at Alexander and saw that he had been shot in the shoulder. Scully felt a sense of triumph inside her and she knelt down in front of the vaccine. There were noises from behind her, gun shots and screaming. Scully closed her eyes and picked up the vaccine box and pulled it towards her, holding it tight. She bent over and started to sob heavy tears as she prepared herself to die.


	15. Chapter 15

**The Americans**

'Agent Scully? Scully?'

'Agent Scully where are you!'

'Agent?'

The voices rang around her head like a dream. Scully slowly opened her eyes and felt sick. She realised that she was holding something.

She looked down and saw the box in her arms, and she was on the floor, lying on her side. Scully blinked a few times in shock and took a deep breath, she whimpered in fear as she heard the voices outside. Slowly she managed to sit up. She looked around the house and saw that it was empty, apart from near the door where there were two dead bodies. Soliders with guns.

Scully scrambled to her feet and tasted dirt in her mouth. She must have collapsed during the fighting, given up hope…

'Agent!' A voice called from outside. Scully jumped at it and realised suddenly that it was American. 'Agent Scully!' The voice called. Scully felt her legs move forward automatically and she ran towards the door of the small house.

'I'm here!' She shouted desperately, and ran out of the house, nearly stumbling over her own feet in tiredness. The bright light of outside blinded her as she came out and she nearly fell again, but she felt a strong pair of arms grab her and stop her fall. The man holding her took the box out of her arms. Scully blinked trying to focus and felt panic.

'No, no. That's for Mulder! That's the vaccine! Keep it safe.' She said desperately, and the man tried to calm her.

'It's all right Agent Scully, we're the rescue team. We've got the Russian captive in the plane and we've come to pick you up. You can relax now, we'll put the vaccine in a very protected place on the plane, we promise.' The man said, and Scully felt safe as she heard his words. She focused slowly and looked up to see the man's face. He was kind looking and had a bullet proof vest on. He also had a large machine gun over his shoulder. Scully took a deep breath to calm herself and nodded.

'Thank you, thank you, thank you.' She murmured deliriously as the man helped her onto the plane. When she got into the plane she was taken aside and a medical agent started to check her up. Scully felt herself shaking uncontrollably. The medical agent was asking her questions which she couldn't quite hear. She told him the facts.

'I… I haven't eaten or drank… broken arm.' She said weakly, and the medical agent seemed to understand and started working on her. Scully felt faint and let the man treat her. She felt the plane start it's engines and felt safe again. Feeling her body give up on her and urge her to rest, she fell into calm blackness.

**Four Hours Later**

Doctor Fessen checked on Mulder worried eyes. He was starting to fit again. Fessen adjusted the medication that was pumping into Mulder's blood stream and it seemed to calm him down a little, but there wasn't much time left. Scully had to be here soon, Mulder was nearly dead. Skinner rushed through the doors of the medical room.

'How is he?' Skinner asked looking down at Mulder. Fessen sighed and shook his head.

'He's nearly gone. If she doesn't get here in the next thirty minutes we're going to be in real trouble.' Fessen said sadly. Skinner put a hand to his mouth in shock and tapped his foot impatiently on the floor.

'She'll be here. They've just landed, I got the call.' Skinner said. 'When she gets here, I'm going back to the FBI to question the Russian.'

'All right.' Fessen said in a low voice, and checked on Mulder again. Skinner turned away and exited the room.

Scully looked at herself in the mirror as she washed her hands and face after they had landed at the airport. She felt horrible, she felt dirty and tired and ill. But she needed to get to Mulder immediately.

She felt a pang of pain in her broken arm and the weight of the vaccine box in her shoulder bag was painful but ignored she it as she dried her hands under the drier. She looked back at her reflection and saw her tired blue eyes and her shoulder length red hair which was messy and dirty. She sighed heavily and exited the bathroom, and made her way out of the airport as fast as possible.

As she went through she ran towards the taxi cabs. Scully shouted out despereately at a taxi that was swerving into the taxi bank. She saw other people hailing the cab and she ran towards it desperately.

'FBI AGENT, PLEASE MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!' Scully shouted at the taxi. The people who were waiting for the taxi gave her evil looks and Scully realised that she didn't have her badge. She cursed under her breath. 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, this is an emergency.' She pleaded, and pulled open the taxi door and jumped inside. The taxi driver was shouting at her but she ignored him and slammed the door.

'I'm an FBI agent this is an emergency I need to get to George Memorial RIGHT NOW.' She shouted, and the man looked at her suspiciously. Scully glared at him. 'Do you want to see my damn gun?' She asked in astonishment. The driver opened his eyes wide with surprise and put the cab in gear. 'Thank you!' She said angrily, and the taxi sped off into the cold night.

Skinner paced the hospital corridors anxiously as he heard Doctor Fessen and the nurses working on Mulder in the medical room. He could hear them frantically working and it didn't sound good. It didn't sound good at all. Skinner tried to distract himself and walked over to the drinks machine, when he heard the click of heels coming down the corridor. Skinner frowned in thought and turned towards the sound, and saw a pair of feet wearing brown boots, and that's when he knew it was Scully.

'Oh god, Sir.' Scully gushed and her walk turned into a run. Skinner saw the desperation on her face and he felt so sorry for her, but so glad she was all right. Scully's eyes were welling with tears. Skinner looked at her arm.

'Dana? What happened?' He asked in confusion. Scully shook her head.

'It doesn't matter, where's Mulder. How bad is he?' She asked in a hurry, Skinner took hold of her before she ran towards the medical room.

'Scully, calm down. You have to calm down before you see him.' Skinner said with concern, but Scully wasn't having it. She pushed Skinner's hand off her.

'Sir, I have to see him!' She shouted as tears started to fall from her eyes. 'Let me see him!'

'Dana?' Doctor Fessen asked, who had just stepped out of the medical room. Scully lurched forward to him and Skinner sighed in defeat.

'Doctor Fessen, how is he?' She asked desperately, her body was shaking in fear.

'Dana, calm down. We need the vaccine, now.' He said softly to her, and Scully looked into his serious eyes. She felt the tears threaten to fall more and she took a deep breath to try and calm herself. She looked down to the floor and then back up at Doctor Fessen. 'Dana, you need a clear head if we're going to do this.'

'I know, I'm sorry.' She said sadly, and sniffed away a tear. 'All right, I've got it here in my bag. They told me to give him a small dose or it'll…' She started, but the words were too hurtful to say. Fessen understood and nodded.

'All right, lets go in.' Fessen said gently, and Scully nodded and followed him into the medical room. Skinner watched her enter and prayed that it was going to be all right. Fessen walked in first and Scully slowly closed the door behind her.

Scully shut the door behind her and slowly turned towards the wall. She prepared herself for what she was about to see. With one deep breath she turned away from the door and looked at the bed where Mulder lay.

Nurses surrounded him, and medical equipment was all around his bed and going into his body. Scully swallowed a sob and raised her good hand to her mouth in despair. He looked frail and lifeless. Scully started to shake again in shock. She was finally here, to save his life. She had managed to get the vaccine, she had done it… and now the reality was hitting her. This was it.

'Dana, hurry.' Fessen said eagerly and motioned for her to come towards the bed. He was preparing an injection. Scully swallowed heavily and stifled a cry as she walked towards the bed. She couldn't take her eyes of Mulder. Her heart was breaking seeing him in that condition.

'Hand over the vaccine.' Fessen said softly. Scully blinked and tears fell from her eyes, and she reached into her bag slowly. Bringing out the box, she slowly opened it with care and got it out from the glass containment. She lifted it out of the box and handed it over to Doctor Fessen. Scully grabbed hold of Mulder's hand and felt how cold he was. She bit her lip to stop her from crying and she felt a wave of emotion surge over her.

Doctor Fessen put small dose of the vaccine into the injection. 'We'll have to try this, see what happens.' He said. Scully looked up at him with thankful eyes. 'Do you want to do it?' Fessen asked. Scully bit back a tear and squeezed Mulder's cold hand her hers.

'I'll hold his hand.' She said softly and let out a small laugh, and looked down at his peaceful face. Scully could swear that she felt his fear, and she kissed his hand gently. Doctor Fessen smiled a little and nodded. Scully kept her eyes on Mulder for any recovery.

Doctor Fessen slowly added the vaccine into Mulder's drip, and it flowed down the tube and into his arm. Scully felt herself crying again and she lowered her head in sadness. She kissed his hand again and didn't want to let go. She couldn't.

Doctor Fessen took a step back and waitied for a few moments with Scully. Nothing happened, and he sighed. 'We'll have to wait. Do you want anything?' Fessen asked her with concern. Scully looked up at him as if she hadn't heard.

'Oh.. I… no. I'm all right… thank you.' She said in a low voice, and turned back to look at Mulder. Doctor Fessen saw how tired she was, and she clearly wasn't that well herself. He moved to the other side of the room and picked up a chair and brought it to her.

'Dana, sit down. You look exhausted.' He said gently, and Scully turned to face him in surprise.

'Oh… thank you.' She said, and sat down into the chair. Fessen took a step back and felt awkward in the room, like he was intruding in a special moment. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet and then made a move.

'I'll be outside.' He said softly, and then went to leave the room.

Scully kept her hand tight over Mulder's. He was still so cold. She closed her eyes and prayed for him softly under her breath, and her tears threatened to fall. She pushed them back angrily as she wanted to stay strong. Scully looked at his face, he seemed calm and still, but he also seemed frightened somehow, Scully could just tell. She wiped a tear away from her eye and rested her hand on his forehead. Softly she brushed some hair back away from his face.

'Mulder?' She said in a small whisper. Scully bit back tears. 'Mulder it's me.' She said gently. There was no response. Scully took a deep breath and sighed. 'It's going to be all right, you're going to be fine.' She said softly and stroked his forehead.

Scully blinked as angry, hot tears threatened to fall and she rested her head down on the bed beside Mulder. She closed her eyes and squeezed his hand gently, to reassure him. She felt so safe beside him, and so tired, she could hardly see. She was exhausted…

'Scully?'

Scully jumped up in surprise at the sound of the voice. She frowned in confusion and put a hand on Mulder's cheek.

'Mulder?' She asked, stronger this time. She cupped his face in her hand and looked at him with gentle eyes. 'Mulder, it's me.' She gushed.

'Mmmm…' Mulder grunted, and Scully saw him frown. Scully opened her mouth wide in shock and she let out a relieved laugh and felt happy tears fall from her eyes. Mulder's chest moved up and down heavily and she heard his rasping breath. Scully frowned in concern.

'Mulder, it's all right. It's all right, you're going to be fine. I'm here… shh it's all right.' She said softly, and felt her heart break as his chest fell heavily. She knew how painful that must be.

'Scully?' He rasped, and turned his head towards the sound of her voice. Scully let out a small relieved laugh again and blinked back happy tears. She squeezed his hand and nodded.

'It's all right, calm down. Save your strength.' She said gently, and feeling a surge of emotion for him, she reached over and kissed him on the forehead softly. Mulder groaned in response and she laughed again, overjoyed that he was all right.

Scully looked up to the window and saw Doctor Fessen and Skinner outside. She smiled at them and nodded for them to come in. Doctor Fessen ran for the door and Skinner nodded with happiness and turned to walk away. Scully knew he had somewhere to be, she was so thankful to him for being there for Mulder when she wasn't. Scully looked back at Mulder as Fessen came hurrying in. Mulder flinched at the sound of someone else in the room and Scully looked at him with concern.

'It's all right Mulder, it's just Doctor Fessen. He's been helping you.' She said gently, and stroked his cheek. Mulder looked at her with scared, desperate eyes. Scully felt so much love for him then.

'Is he all right?' Fessen asked in astonishment. Scully beamed at him.

'I think he's going to be fine.' She said with relief. Fessen smiled too, and shook his head in disbelief.

'That's amazing.' He gushed, and he stared at Mulder with amazement. Mulder however was still looking to Scully. She turned back to him and looked at him with love and concern.

'It's all right, you're going to be fine. Just relax Mulder.' She said soothingly and kissed his hand. Mulder didn't take his eyes off her and Scully saw how difficult his breathing was. She looked up at Fessen.

'I'll check him.' She said, and Fessen nodded. Scully looked back at Mulder.

'Mulder, I'm just going to check you all right? Just relax, you're ok now.' She said gently, and reached over to the table of instruments and Mulder saw this and flinched, and she squeezed his hand to reassure him. She got a stethescope and listened to his heart. Scully felt the touch of his skin again she felt great energy surge between them. She shivered at the touch of his skin and checked him very carefully. Mulder took painful breaths and Scully felt so sorry for him. When she had finished checking him she stood up to talk to Doctor Fessen. They talked about his condition and their estimates for his recovery, and when this had been done, Scully was back at his side again.

'Scully?' Mulder asked weakly. Scully slowly opened her eyes and yawned. She had been sleeping heavily after they had checked everything was all right with Mulder. She had also got a proper cast on her arm and had gotten some injections for her malnutrition. She had fallen asleep at Mulder's side after everything had been done. She raised her head and looked up at him in the darkness. It was still night time.

'Mulder? Are you all right?' She asked with worry and took hold on his hand. Mulder managed a small smile.

'I'm all right, I just wondered if you were still awake.' He asked in a weak voice. Scully let out a small laugh and kissed his hand. She looked up to the clock.

'It's nearly 6am. I've been asleep for about 6 hours.' She said, mainly to herself. Mulder nodded weakly.

'I know, I thought that you would stay awake longer and talk to me seeing as I nearly died earlier…' Mulder said with a smirk. Scully opened her mouth wide in shock and then saw his smile and let out a small laugh.

'Yes, you're defientely getting better.' She said with a smile, she was so relieved to have him back. She felt happy tears sting her eyes. Mulder looked at her with loving eyes.

'How's your arm?' He asked her. Scully shook her head.

'It's fine Mulder.' She said quickly. 'It's you who we should be worrying about.' She said softly and rubbed his arm gently and affectionately.

'What happened out there?' He asked gently, and Scully took a deep breath.

'Well, I was in a plane crash.' She started. Mulder's eyes opened wide with shock.

'You what?' He asked incredulously.

'Yeah, it was horrible, I thought I was going to die.' Scully said sadly, and then realised she was being negative and looked back at Mulder with a smile. 'But I'm ok, obviously.'

'Scully, I'm so sorry that must have been terrifying…' Mulder started but Scully put a finger to his lips.

'It doesn't matter now. I was trying to save your life.' She said softly, and then on the next thought she blushed a little and lowered her head. 'And I would have given mine for yours.' She said in a small affectionate voice. There was a silence between them and then Scully felt Mulder's hand squeeze hers. She lifted her face to meet his gaze and felt tears stinging her eyes.

'I owe you my life Scully.' He said softly, and with new strength he lifted his hand to her cheek. Scully nodded and blinked back tears.

'I thought I was going to lose you.' She said, fighting back tears. Mulder felt great concern for her. He brushed a tear away from her eye.

'Scully… I meant what I said before.' He said gently. Scully suddenly looked up at him with surprise.

'What?' She whispered.

'What I said before you left, I told you I loved you. I mean it.' He said softly and with a small smile. Scully suddenly felt as if she was going to explode with happiness. She smiled at him with a huge grin and moved closer to him.

'I love you too.' She said in a whisper, and Mulder frowned in emotion for her. He stroked her cheek with his hand and she moved closer to him still, and their eyes met.

Scully felt her whole body was on fire, like she was going to burn up any moment, but it was an amazing feeling. She could have melted into his eyes. 'I've always loved you.' She said tearfully, and Mulder nodded silently.

Scully then felt a surge of emotion hit her, and she felt herself being drawn towards him, it was ncontrollable. Their lips touched for a moment and then parted again, Scully's eyes were closed as if she were in a dream, and Mulder looked at her beautiful face in front of him. She was so beautiful.

'Come here.' He said with a happy smile, and pulled her down to him and their lips met in a loving kiss. It was passionate and loving, and promising. They knew then, at that point, after all that had happened to them… that they were finally going to be able to be together.

END


End file.
